Sunday, May 19, 2013

L'Universite de Notre Dame du Lac

The afternoon of our visit to the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana we also toured the Notre Dame campus.



Notre Dame History


On a cold afternoon in November 1842, a young French priest, Rev. Edward Sorin, along with seven other members of the Congregation of Holy Cross made an incredibly important decision to start a university on 524 acres of Indiana mission land near South Bend. The property was a gift from the Bishop of Vincennes.

The tulips were in full bloom and beautiful!
Father Sorin was responsible for naming the new school. On January 15, 1844, L'Universite de Notre Dame du Lac (The University of Our Lady of the Lake) was chartered.

The main building of the university was destroyed by fire in 1879.  Unwilling to be deterred, Father Sorin vowed to rebuild, saying, "I came here as a young man and dreamed of building a great university in honor of Our Lady. But I built it too small and she had to burn it to the ground to make the point. So tomorrow, as soon as the bricks cool, we will rebuild it, bigger and better than ever."

And it appears they did just that.  The campus is beautiful.
The grounds, landscaping and buildings all around the campus are beautiful and well kept.


Notre Dame's main building and it's gold dome is one of the most recognized university landmarks in the world.

This statue, in the main quad under the gold dome, is the likeness of Fr. Edward Sorin, University of Notre Dame founder.

"Touchdown Jesus"
The building in the photo above is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a 14-story Hesburgh Library. One side is adorned with a famous 132-feet-high mural depicting Christ the Teacher -- often referred to as "Touchdown Jesus"....


Notre Dame Stadium
Notre Dame has enjoyed more than it's share of fine and winning football coaches. Statues honoring them guard the gates of the stadium. 


Knute Rockne died in a 1931 plane crash in Kansas while traveling to participate in the production of the movie The Spirit of Notre Dame.

In South Bend, Knute Rockne lived on Wayne Street but we did not look for the house. He was buried in  Highland Cemetery in South Bend.

2 comments:

  1. I've seen pictures of Notre Dame but yours really are the best. It is so beautiful on that campus.

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  2. Thanks for the nice compliment on the photos -- for every good one, I usually have two dozen terrible ones. We loved being at Notre Dame.... college campuses are almost always on our list of places to visit.

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