Chapel of the Holy Cross

The story starts, oddly, with the Empire State Building. In 1932 Marguerite Brunswig Staude, the daughter of a wealthy pharmaceutical family and a trained artist, looked at the new New York skyscraper from a certain angle and thought she saw a cross in its lines. The image would not leave her. She became set on building a church shaped by that same modern, soaring feeling, a place where art itself would carry the worship.

Her first plan was for a great church in Budapest, and she worked on it with Lloyd Wright, a son of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Second World War ended that idea before it began, so she brought the dream home to Arizona, where her family owned ranch land. It took her until the 1950s and the help of the San Francisco firm Anshen and Allen to find the right site and finally build it.

The chapel was raised between 1954 and 1956 on a red rock spur in what is now the Coconino National Forest. The design is bold and simple: a wedge of reinforced concrete driven straight into the stone, with that ninety-foot cross as its structural spine, front and back, so the whole thing reads as one great crucifix standing in the desert. Behind the altar a wall of glass looks straight out at the buttes and the valley, so the view becomes part of the sanctuary.

Staude meant it as a memorial to her parents and as a gift open to everyone. There is no admission charge, and the doors welcome people of any faith or none at all. Inside it is small, plain, and quiet, with the desert light pouring through the glass, and many visitors say the hush and the framed red rock move them whether or not they came for a church.

Over the years the chapel has become one of the signature images of Sedona and of Arizona itself, praised as a small masterpiece of mid-century modern design set in an unforgettable landscape. It sits among the region's most famous formations, with Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte just down the road and a pair of spires nearby that locals call the Two Nuns, so the setting is as much a draw as the building.

It is also simply a beautiful place to look out from. The great glass wall and the terrace outside frame a sweeping view across the Verde Valley, and the red rock glows warmest in the early and late light. Come in the morning to beat the crowds and the parking crunch, walk up the ramp, sit for a while, and let the desert and the quiet do their work.

The chapel is just south of Sedona, off State Route 179 up a short side road called Chapel Road. It is free to visit and open to the public most days, though hours can shift with the seasons and holidays, so it is worth checking before a special trip. Because it is a working chapel, dress and act as you would in any place of worship, and keep voices down inside.

The little parking area at the top is small and fills quickly, especially at midday in busy seasons, so arriving early or being ready to walk up from the lower lot saves a lot of frustration. The approach is a steady uphill ramp, an easy walk for most but a real climb for some. Give yourself time to linger at the glass, step outside to the view, and take the classic photo from below of the chapel and its cross rising out of the red rock.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.