Travel: Postcard from Cleveland
A trip last month to Cleveland reminded me of why this quintessential Rust Belt city along Ohio’s Lake Erie coast is one of my favorite places to spend a summer weekend.
I was last here in 2019, which, admittedly, is a lifetime ago given how many big cities are struggling to revive downtown cores that emptied out at the height of the pandemic. While office towers could have been busier, Cleveland felt the way I remembered it.
Cleveland’s best asset has to be its cultural attractions.
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Many visitors come for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame housed in the iconic I.M. Pei-designed building fronting the harbor. Others are drawn by the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is one of the country’s best big-city art museums. Few seem to know about the Sanctuary Museum.
The museum in Lakewood, a so-called streetcar suburb of Cleveland, is housed in a turn-of-the-last-century former Roman Catholic church dedicated to St. Hedwig.
Founded by Lou McClung, a cosmetics company owner with a side hustle in restoring religious art, the museum is notable because much of the collection was sourced locally from the Diocese of Cleveland. As in other Roman Catholic dioceses, dozens of urban churches have closed in recent decades. In some cases, all that remains of a long-shuttered parish is an object on exhibit.
As one might expect, there are plenty of depictions of Jesus and Mary. But there are also plenty of saints and martyrs, including those venerated by the ethnic European communities of a century ago. Think Hedwig for the Polish and Joan of Arc for the French.
The sheer number of things — statues, stained-glass, paintings, chalices and even saintly relics — squeezed into the constraints of a former neighborhood church may overwhelm some visitors. Quite helpfully, items have a code that when scanned by a cell phone’s QR reader pops up extended information.
A visit to the Sanctuary Museum is also a reminder that the church was throughout most of history the biggest and most important patron of the arts.
If you go
The Sanctuary Museum is open every Wednesday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. respectively.
Before visiting on Saturdays, enjoy the people watching at West Side Market followed by a bite to eat at the nearby Pearl Street Wine Market & Café. Another recommended lunch option is Provenance, the elegant restaurant at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Be sure to also visit the architecturally eccentric Garfield Memorial, which contains the tomb of President James Garfield. Garfield, who earlier in life had been a local Disciples of Christ minister, was assassinated in 1881 just 200 days into his term of office.
I stayed downtown at Hotel Indigo. The newish hotel, part of the IHG chain, is within walking distance of pretty much everything to do and see downtown. An alternative is the high-rise Hilton with its sweeping views of Lake Erie from the rooftop restaurant and bar.
Hopkins International Airport is served by all the major airlines. By car, Cleveland is five hours from Chicago, six hours from Washington and about eight hours from Nashville.
Full trip planning resources are available through Destination Cleveland.
Dennis Lennox writes a travel column for The Christian Post.
Dennis Lennox writes about travel, politics and religious affairs. He has been published in the Financial Times, Independent, The Detroit News, Toronto Sun and other publications. Follow @dennislennox on Twitter.
