Wednesday 4 April 2012

Lincoln Cathedral 


Last year, as part of our MA, we ventured out of York to Lincoln Cathedral. Begun in 1092, it's soaring central and western towers can be seen from all parts of this city. 





Taking nearly 3 centuries to build, by 1400 it became the tallest building in the world and standing at the foot of the western front you can certainly get that impression. 






However, for this post, it is not so much the grandness of the building that I want to talk about, that can be seen by most Cathedrals throughout the country. It is more what the minute details can reveal, those that go undiscovered when you wander through the nave staring at the ceiling many meters above you and falling over your own feet. 


As in my last post on Buckland Church, church interiors were not the blank spaces that we associate with religious buildings today and if you look closely at the stonework, traces of the bright colours that used to cover the walls are visible.......





Located on the rood screen, between the nave and chancel, there are elements of red paint that elude to past appearances of this great space. It is these glimpses that give a true picture of the building's past. So the next time you wander into a Cathedral or Minster and, after you have gawped at the ceiling so long your neck aches, take a closer look at the stonework and see what secrets can be revealed. 

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