Sage Chapel

It was designed in 1872 by the Reverend Charles Babcock,[2] the first Professor of Architecture at Cornell University, with stonework provided by local stone-carver Robert Richardson.

[9] The interior building has a long history with many of the artistic renderings representing many Christian and educational themes.

This artwork is surrounded by images of women representing other academic subjects, including mathematics, chemistry, theater, literature and music.

The double crosses in the ceiling have a blue background in which are set gilded sunbursts and stars, while in the centers are found the Greek letters, XP, which began the word Christos, and the Alpha and Omega.

The sun, stars, and crescent moon, are the luminous nebula which emanates from and surrounds the Divine Essence.

Many of the decorative carvings of Sage Chapel were executed by Robert Richardson, a stone-carver who had emigrated to Ithaca from England.

The tracery of the windows, the capitals of the columns, and the corbels supporting the beams of the roof were masterpieces; and, in my opinion, no investment of equal amount has proved to be of more value to us ... than these examples of a conscientious devotion of genius and talent which he thus gave us.

[4] In response, Henry W. Sage, sometimes called the "second founder of the University", donated funds for the establishment of a chapel.

[4] Opening services were held on June 13, 1875 with Reverend Phillips Brooks of Boston's Trinity Church presiding.

[4] In 1875, the tower held one of two electric arc lamps installed on campus by professor of physics William Arnold Anthony.

"[14][1]: 53 Sage Chapel has hosted many speakers, including Lyman Beecher, John R. Mott (Cornell class of 1888), Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Stephen Samuel Wise, Martin Luther King Sr., Martin Luther King Jr., Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, Elie Wiesel, Abraham Heschel, Hans Küng, Harold Kushner, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, Carl Sagan, Jane Goodall, Arianna Huffington, and Peter Gomes.

[4] Father Robert S. Smith, Catholic priest, author, and educator, preached regularly at Sage Chapel from 2002 to 2010.

The bodies or ashes of numerous Cornell notables and their families are interred in the crypt inside Sage Chapel.