About

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

Rockefeller Chapel is the spiritual and ceremonial center of the University of Chicago, and a major civic presenter of the performing arts. Resembling a medieval cathedral in appearance and size, it hosts festivals and ceremonies of many world religious traditions. A leading venue for pipes, bells, and voices, it is a prized event location for major speakers and international artists. It is the home of two world class instruments, the E.M. Skinner Organ and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon, and a storied choral program. Annually, Rockefeller and its corollary spaces receive over 200,000 visitors. Rockefeller is located at 5850 S. Woodlawn Avenue in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood.

 On Sundays during the academic year at 11 AM, Rockefeller hosts a broadly Christian liturgy in a rhythm dating to 1928: ecumenical worship including readings from world traditions and meditations from civic and faculty leaders. Special services and holidays across many campus faith communities have been embraced at the Chapel since its founding.

Bond Chapel

Completed in 1926, Bond Chapel, near the center of the main University Quadrangles, is used for a varied program of ceremonial, spiritual, and artistic events. It seats up to 150. It resonates to Bach and to experimental music alike, to meditation and to formal prayers, to quiet remembrances and to joyous celebrations of life and love. It houses the exquisite Reneker Baroque tracker organ, and is beloved for its jewel-like stained glass windows. Bond Chapel is managed as part of University Chapels by Campus & Student Life, and is most directly accessible from the Classics archway at 1010 E. 59th Street.

Spiritual Life

The University of Chicago’s Spiritual Life office is an integral part of the life of the two chapels. The Spiritual Life team speaks to the complex and often contradictory issues related to religious and spiritual practice in today’s world, providing support to members of the campus community of any religious affiliation or none and also to those who seek spirituality beyond the strictures of particular traditions, and nourishing the broadly construed spiritual life of the campus community. Spiritual Life is located in Ida Noyes Hall at 1212 E. 59th Street.