SAN JUAN — Walking into the Gelman Stained Glass Museum is like stepping inside a kaleidoscope.

Once past the heavy wooden doors at the lobby area to the nave of the large cathedral-like structure, visitors are greeted with a smorgasbord of colors cutting through the vast emptiness of the building’s wooden interior.

On Saturday, as a new featured window was being installed, the low hum of the building’s air conditioning and the murmur of whispers reverberating off the high ceilings were interrupted by short bursts of a drill, the tapping of tools, and the occasional squeak of a 20-foot scaffold as the installation crew shifted their weight.

The artificial lights behind the new stained glass window are turned off during the installation process, but once completed, the lights will help display the wide array of colors depicting a scene from the Book of Revelation 21:2, “I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

The window takes its name, “New Jerusalem,” from the verse. Once finished, the 25-foot tall work of art will depict the “New Jerusalem”, or the final home for the souls redeemed from Christ, with 29 beautifully colored panels.

“We’re opening the doors of this live installation to the public to be a part of the behind-the-scenes of what happens here at the Gelman Stained Glass Museum,” Miriam Cepeda, executive director of the museum, said Saturday. “It was actually under restoration for about five or six months because we wanted it to be in pristine condition for the installation — for it to be properly installed.”

“New Jerusalem” is an American Art Nouveau-style stained glass window by Mary Tillinghast. The window was initially installed at First Presbyterian Church in Syracuse, New York, in 1906, where it was displayed until the church closed in 2012 and was ultimately demolished.

The piece is the third Tillinghast piece in the museum’s collection, the others being “Musical Saints: Easter Window” and “The Baptism of Jesus.”

“‘New Jerusalem’ is a reference to Ezekiel 48:35,” Cepeda explained. “It’s said that New Jerusalem is supposed to be the final home for souls redeemed by Christ. During the Last Judgment, the city is said to descend out of Heaven. The New Jerusalem will unite the heavens and the earth becoming a place to live with God. This piece displays that.”

The window depicts Jesus Christ with a heavenly vision of the New Jerusalem hovering above his head. The piece also displays scenes from the Old Testament and the New Testament coming together, including the crowning of Jesus.

“Mary Tillinghast is considered the most famous stained glass artist — one would argue — in the world, but predominantly in America,” Cepeda said. “She has earned that title. It being that (Friday, Aug. 26) was Women’s Equality Day, we really want to emphasize this spirit — this female independent spirit — that Mary Tillinghast has had because there’s stories about how she never let anybody tell her no.”

“Her being this small, fragile, slender woman making beautiful pieces, even for Vanderbilts, very wealthy people, there’s just a lot of interesting stories that she has,” she continued. “We’re very excited to recreate the excitement as a window would have had for a dedication for a window in the 1900’s. We’re reenvisioning that here at the museum.”

The restoration process has been under the direction of Juan Carlos Castillo and his company, La Casa del Vitral. Castillo, a local stained glass artist who was trained in Guadalajara, Mexico, has been working on the window for the past six months.

“When I talk about restoration — especially when we’re talking about these American Art Nouveau style of windows — it’s not just one panel of glass,” Cepeda said. “It’s layers of glass, so you really have to take them out – apart. You have to clean them internally. You have to remove the lead, remove the layers, you have to clean it. Sometimes there’s bugs, dirt, with all things water finds a crack anywhere. They really have cleaned them and now it’s been properly restored to be properly installed here for display.”

The new window is currently on display in the north transept of the museum. Tickets to visit the museum and see nearly 200 pieces of original stained glass windows and statues, go to gelmanmuseum.org.

To see more, view Monitor photojournalist Delcia Lopez’s full photo gallery here:

Photo Gallery: Gelman Stained Glass Museum holds live installation for new window