Designing mosaic for massive dome was challenging, say father and son who led effort

Designing mosaic for massive dome was challenging, say father and son who led effort

Catholic Standard

The father and son team of Viggo and Martin Rambusch were the artistic designers of the Trinity Dome Mosaic that was dedicated by Cardinal Donald Wuerl on Dec. 8 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The Trinity Dome Mosaic is not the first work the Rambusch family’s Jersey City-based company has completed for the National Shrine. The family has a long association with the National Shrine, dating to the 1930s. They have designed other domes, light fixtures, mosaics, stained glass windows and other artwork for the basilica.

Martin Rambusch said designing the Trinity Dome’s artwork was a particular challenge because of the depth of the dome.

Noting that the dome is not as flat as the other domes on the basilica, Martin said “we had to work with a different geometry because of the half-sphere” nature of the dome. “Since the figures would not be flat, we had to figure in how the artwork as designed would be seen.”