One of the most impressive sacral buildings for the Catholic church, the new "Our Lady of the Angels" cathedral in Los Angeles, is taking shape. Not least because of the 57 large tapestries from Flanders Tapestries BVBA woven on DORNIER rapier weaving machines.


The surface dimension of this church of around 16.000 m² is as overwhelming as the record construction time. The cornerstone was laid in May 1999 and the cathedral is planned to be dedicated in September 2002 as the largest sacral building in the USA with room for 2.400 visitors. To eliminate any undesired acoustic effects possibly arising from the modern concrete construction, large tapestries will be hung on the walls of the new cathedral. Theme of these tapestries: A long impressive procession of 133 saints consecrated by the Catholic Church.

Walking in procession forwards while looking at the altar one can clearly identify, among others, Mother Teresa, Joan of Arc and Pope John XXIII. After completion, the new cathedral in Los Angeles will become the world’s largest exhibition area of woven tapestry.

The American artist John Nava provided the initial photo-realistic image-outlines of the groups of saints. He took his inspirations from existing sacral paintings as well as from the faces of ordinary people. Flanders Tapestries, the Belgian company, signs responsible for the production of the sound absorbing artistic tapestries, woven in a so-called 3-layer technique. Each of these unique tapestries, approximately 2,3 meters wide and between 4 and 14 meters high, represents a very special challenge as regards to weaving technology.

Flanders Tapestries BVBA

Flanders Tapestries is a family owned company that has been in the market for 20 years and is part of the very small international group of highly specialized tapestry weavers. The company has its own collection of around 100 base designs, but is also specialized in reproducing antique Gobelin tapestries and, as shown in this example, in producing unique, single tapestries to order. Flanders Tapestries was recently successful in manufacturing a replica of an invaluable, 16th century Japanese Gobelin. The copy became necessary to protect the original which was carried during procession through the streets of Otsu every year. The most difficult task was to match the antique color tones and, at the same time, give the copy an "aged" appearance, including the places yellowed by the light of the centuries.

Around 4 million Catholics live in Los Angeles. Masses are held in 42 different languages every Sunday. The new cathedral was financed by donations and designed by the Spaniard José Rafael Moneo. It is being built in the middle of Los Angeles. Alabaster in a warm yellow color tone covers the concrete construction. This color shade however represented an additional problem for the designing of the tapestry, because the background wall was to simulate Italian frescoes. In order to attain the correct color in dampened yellowish alabaster light, samples had to be measured in the original light conditions with a color spectrometer and the yarn color was then adapted accordingly.

"We would never have been able to complete this order without our DORNIER rapier weaving machines"

The company’s own CAD archive, containing around 60.000 patterns impressively demonstrates the weaving technology know-how of Flanders Tapestries. The uncounted number of interlacings combined with a multitude of colors of warp and filling threads allow to duplicate even the finest color hues of any photographic or painting original. Flanders Tapestries demands were fulfilled with the DORNIER rapier weaving machine fitted with three warp systems and twelve filling colors. Combined with a Jacquard machine with 20.000 lifting hooks, this installation is one of the most complex weaving machines in the world. Three warp systems with a total of 17.800 threads provide even tension of the yarn material for all weaves across the entire width of 2,3 meters. The oversized Jumbo Jacquard drive on the DORNIER weaving machine with its reliable start and stop function is of special importance, when such multi-layer, heavy Gobelin tapestries are woven. Another decisive factor was the wide filling yarn range that can be inserted, from Ne 6/2 to Ne 60/2, with up to 64 color shades. Filling density is variable between 60 to 160 threads per centimeter. The three warp systems allow to change between two and three layer fabric technique, which will play an important role in the final acoustics of the cathedral.

250 different color hues were used by the artists and designers for the tapestries in the new cathedral. This example shows that smaller companies with a lot of know-how covering several areas combined with high specialization in manufacturing can complete prestigious tasks. The construction progress of the "Our Lady of the Angels" cathedral in Los Angeles can be observed by visiting: http://cathedral.la-archdiocese.org