The Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun

I have lived here practically my entire life, and I've never been to the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun. This is a disgrace. Thankfully I had a chance to remedy that situation on Saturday, when some clients asked me to do engagement portraits there. I was very excited about this! Unfortunately, when we got to the Shrine, there was an attendant on hand who forbade me from taking any kind of portraits or professional photos, so my clients and I had to put our heads together and come up with another location -- but not before I grabbed a few snapshots for the blog!

Five stories high and completed in 1937, the Will Rogers Shrine was built by Spencer Penrose. Not only did he build it, he's actually entombed there with his wife Julie, along with two other close friends. So it's not just a shrine, it's a mausoleum. I didn't know that. I also didn't know that it contains a chapel, several pieces of renaissance art and furnishings, and a handful of historic murals depicting the history of the city and region. And of course a large part of the Shrine is dedicated to the life history of Will Rogers, who died during the construction of it. His sudden demise inspired Penrose, a close friend, to christen the tower in his memory.

Anyway, since I was on duty and had important pictures to take elsewhere, I couldn't hang around and check it out; we were only there for a few minutes. I'll have to go back to the Will Rogers Shrine another day and take my time exploring it. Meanwhile, you can find more history about it on the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo website HERE.

Mr. Penrose himself. He's the man who built the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and the Broadmoor, among other notable things in our city.

Here's a look at it from the zoo parking lot. By the way, the view of the city from the Shrine is stupendous.