The windows in Boe Memorial Chapel were designed and completed by the Conrad Pickel Studio of Waukesha, Wisconsin. The visual and thematic development of the windows in the early 1950s was the work of faculty members of the St. Olaf Department of Religion; Clemens Granskou, college president from 1943 to 1963; St. Olaf Pastor Clifford J. Swanson; Dr. Randolph E. Haugan, former chairman of the college’s board of trustees; and Dr. E. Clifford Nelson ’33, then dean of Luther Theological Seminary and later a member of the St. Olaf religion faculty.

The windows are made of antique glass (named so because it is created using the same methods utilized by glass makers centuries ago) manufactured in Holland, Germany and the United States. Metallic ingredients are added to colorless molten glass to produce the variety of colors.

Boe Chapel’s windows portray the story of creation, redemption and sanctification throughout the Bible and the history of the Christian church. The windows on the west wall portray the history of salvation beginning with creation and culminating with the birth, life, ministry and death of Jesus Christ. The east wall windows tell the story of the early Christian church, beginning with Pentecost, continuing with the ministry of the Apostle Paul and the Reformation. Central throughout this history is Christ as head of the church, as he appears in the chancel window.

See the Windows >