Helena, Montana

 Day 58: July 20, 2021

We sleep in and then spend the day in Helena

There seems to be no escape on this trip. We’re in Lewis & Clark County; there was L&C art in the Capitol; and there were innumerable references in the Montana’s Museum. 

With a population of only 40,000, Helena is really a small town. But because it’s a state capital, it has government business, lots of places to eat, lots of “the arts”. We decided that doing the train tour would be a good overview of the town, and then we zeroed in on other places. 

We ate lunch at Bert & Ernie’s and made friends with a man we met in the parking lot as we were trying to figure out the automated meter….don’t ask. He and his wife are from the Seattle Area and were very familiar with the places we’d visited; they too had a sidewalk table at Bert & Ernie’s so we chatted some more. Fun encounters are the best! Our server was a recent grad from Mercyhurst University, who’s now working for the Bureau of Land Management out here; she was just earning extra money by working at B&Es. (I’m pretty sure she went to college with the daughter of someone we went to HS with—she was fun to chat with!)

“Train Tour” of Helena 

With no reservations, we were lucky to get the last available seats on the little train that toured us past the Statehouse, the old governor’s mansion, the “ritzy old mansion” district, and other fun and interesting areas. Our “train conductor” was a junior high school social studies teacher; he was very informative and entertaining! Since I couldn’t remember any of the history of the mansions, we will just skip those! 😬

Helena Civic Center, the former Algeria Shrine Temple, is an example of Moorish Revival design.
It is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. 

The Bullwhacker, 1976, anchors one end of the Walking Mall. I told Dan I wanted to actually “walk” the walking mall, but he said something to the effect that “you already saw it from the train”…sigh.

More public art: The Women’s Mural on the Livestock Building;
it depicts Montana women through state history.

Montana Capitol Building; the flags represent Native American Tribes residing in Montana.
Lady Liberty occupies the peak of the dome.

Cathedral of Saint Helena

Opened in 1908, this Gothic Revival Cathedral is quite a surprise in a town of 40,000. It boasts 11,693 square feet of stained glass in 59 windows. 

Twin steeples of the Cathedral. There is an Air Force base nearby. “Back in the day,” a young and very confident pilot bet his buddy $100 that he could fly between the steeples. His friend and other pilots took the bet, and then watched in awe as their buddy split the steeples with his plane. When he got back to base, the story goes, he was stripped of his wings; that was the last flight he ever got to make.
But, he won the $100 bet.

While this Cathedral was designed by AO Von Herbulis, who was born in Vienna, I think it’s a combination of the Cathedrals we saw on our Rhine River tour three years ago. Apparently Von Herbulis was influenced by the Votivekirche in Vienna. My comparisons are below.

The twin steeples of the Cologne Cathedral; note the similar proportions of the steeples.

Another Cathedral we saw was the Speyer Cathedral. While this is not the front view, note the rounded part, just like on the Cathedral of St Helena. OK, this might be stretching things a bit….but I think the Cathedral of St. Helena is a hybrid!

The Finding of the True Cross: This is the St Helena window. The story is that Helena found the crosses that were used when Jesus was crucified. But, she didn’t know which was the actual one on which Jesus died. She had all three of them brought to the woman on her death bed; she touched each one, but when she touched the “Jesus” cross, she was cured and recovered. 

The Visitation: Elizabeth visits Mary and exclaims that she is blessed among women.
I love the colored light on the side of the window on the right.
These windows are exquisite, on par with the spectacular windows seen in European cathedrals.

The Ascension of Christ. One side of the cathedral depicts Old Testament scenes; the other side is New Testament. In between the windows are the Stations of the Cross, carved in great detail in Carrera marble.

The maker’s mark. While not on every window, this is the trademark of FX Zettler  of Munich, the craftsmen who made these amazing windows. 

The Fall of Our First Parents

Detail from one of the Stations of the Cross

Our “wee bit Irish” tour guide today. I thought we just happened to run into one of the Cathedral’s priests, but as it turns out we were there between 1 and 3 pm on Tues-Weds-Thurs when volunteers are available to answer questions or explain the cathedral interior details. Mr (Thomas?) O’Connor (O’Donnell?) was a fount of information. I wish I could be sure of his name! His favorite window: the Saint Patrick window depicting St. Patrick converting the Druids…of course!

Find Dan.

Now….THAT’S a pipe organ 😮

The original baptismal font

The Holter Museum of Art

This is a really small museum; I was interested in the “To Be of Seven Minds” exhibit, works by Soojin Choi. Her art is supposed to represent “the conflict created by questioning what a bad emotion is in our contemporary consciousness.” As a group, I found them interesting. Ceramic and mixed media.

Montana State Capitol 

There are no organized tours due to COVID but we took the “self guided” approach. This, inside the rotunda, looking up to the third floor where the Mike and Maureen Mansfield statue resides. Mansfield was Senate Majority Leader when Civil Rights, Voting Rights and Great Society programs were going through; he was also Ambassador to Japan. 

The Montana House of Representatives. The painting on the back wall is “Lewis and Clark Meeting the Indians at Ross’ Hole” by Charles Russell (stay tuned for more on Russell).

Jeannette Rankin achieved fame as a suffragette and for being the first woman elected to a federal post when she was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1916. She was the lone dissenting vote when Congress voted to enter World War II; she also was one of several dozen to vote against entering WWI. 

Stained glass window on the landing of the second floor at the top of the marble Grand Staircase.

View from the third floor down to the first floor lobby.

Beautiful tile in the old-style women’s restroom. Sturdy wooden bench.
This shot begged me to make it BW.

Montana’s Museum

Across the street from the Statehouse was the Montana Museum, with its Charles Russell exhibit.

Portrait Gallery Dan

This one caught my eye. Before he was “Sr.”, he was Robert De Niro.
Then his son became actor Robert De Niro, Jr., and the artist is Robert De Niro, Sr.
(I made up the Jr/Sr story but the father/son part is 100% true.)

The Charles Russell exhibit was the one I wanted to see here and it did not disappoint. He was an artist in every way and had a passionate love for the state of Montana. The people of Montana felt likewise about him! He grew up in Missouri but was always making clay models of animals and had a fascination with the American West. He finally wore his mother down and she allowed him to go west. He never came back. He’s known as the ‘cowboy artist’ and was also an accomplished sculptor. This exhibit had paintings, drawings, correspondence and small sculptures. I loved it all. 

The exhibit came right out and said that he wasn’t much for writing (he was never much of a student in school, but Wikipedia stated that he was also a writer), but what a thrill it would be to get a letter in the mail with his charming illustrations! Note the action on this watercolor, above. Wow.

Fool that I am, I thought “mail art” was a new-ish thing. Nope. (Also, back in the day, you could apparently put your friend’s name and city/state on a letter, and it would find him. Bill Rance had lots of illustrated correspondence from Russell!)

I would love to be able to produce a Christmas card like this one! Watercolor on paper.

“When the Land Belonged to God”

“Charles M. Russell and His Friends”

I love the light and shadow in this one—plus, great subject matter after seeing the fawns at Ben’s 2 days ago.

From left: “Bear With Jug”, “Montana Mother”, and “Walking Grizzly”

Maybe my favorite of the Russell exhibit: “Laugh Kills Lonesome”. Russell inserted himself into this painting—he’s the fellow on the right by his horse. Again, love his painting to show light and reflections. As the twentieth century was getting underway, Russell mourned the old west as it had been. Painted a year before he died, this showed his nostalgic longings for days gone by.

Tomorrow we head Miles City…long day of driving….Stay tuned!