Chapel of the Holy Cross

Rank in Arizona: #23of 727 ranked
Overall score: Score 63.4 out of 100medium confidence
Category: Historic Site

The Chapel of the Holy Cross is a Roman Catholic chapel built between 1954 and 1956 into the red rock buttes of Sedona, Arizona, within the Coconino National Forest. It was inspired and commissioned by the local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude, and designed by August K. Strotz of the firm Anshen & Allen, with Richard Hein of the same firm as project architect. The chapel falls under the auspices of the episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, and its ministry is conducted by St John Vianney Parish, Sedona. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Where it is

Chapel of the Holy Cross is a historic site near Sedona, in Coconino County. It is one of the historic sites in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.

How this ranking was reached

No official visitor count is published for Chapel of the Holy Cross, so its score rests on public interest and tourism significance, and is capped below the level a measured attraction can reach. That is why the medium confidence above is not higher. The weighting is explained in full on the methodology page, and every axis is broken out under Facts and sources at the foot of this page.

Note on the data: No official visitor count is published for this attraction.

Sources

Public interest: Wikimedia pageviews (en.wikipedia, human traffic), 2024
Coordinates and designations: Wikivoyage(opens in a new tab)
County: U.S. Census geography via FCC Area API, resolved from coordinates
Official site: http://chapeloftheholycross.com/(opens in a new tab)

Record last verified 2026-08-12.

More photographs

Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 · licence(opens in a new tab) · source(opens in a new tab)
LacDa.19, CC BY-SA 4.0 · licence(opens in a new tab) · source(opens in a new tab)

Nearby attractions

1.1 miles away
Broken Arrow Trail
A 2-mile, cairn-marked Sedona trail to Chicken Point, passing Submarine Rock and shared with Pink Jeep tours and mountain bikers.
Natural Landmark
1.7 miles away
Cathedral Rock
A sandstone butte near Sedona rising to 4,967 feet, reached by a short, steep trail from the Back O' Beyond trailhead.
Natural Landmark
2.1 miles away
Snoopy rock
Snoopy Rock, near Sedona, Arizona, is a rock formation that from one side resembles the Snoopy dog character lying on his back.
Natural Landmark
2.2 miles away
Bell Rock
A butte of 4,919 feet south of Sedona, beside Courthouse Butte, with a moderate route to a plateau on its north-west face.
Natural Landmark
2.3 miles away
Crescent Moon Ranch
A Coconino National Forest day-use area on Oak Creek at Red Rock Crossing, where the water reflects Cathedral Rock — a view the Forest Service describes as one of the most photographed scenes in the Southwest. Paved paths run through picnic grounds to shallow water people wade and fish in, and a day-use fee applies. The site was a working cattle ranch; its buildings and waterwheel remain, and the ranch house is rented out by the Forest Service.
Natural Landmark
2.9 miles away
Sedona McDonald's
The only McDonald's in the world with turquoise arches rather than yellow ones. Sedona's building rules require development to sit quietly against the red rock, so when the restaurant opened in April 1993 the city refused the standard yellow and the franchise built it in turquoise instead. Tour buses stop here and people climb the arches to be photographed under them.
Landmark