Peterborough Cathedral West Front
Peterborough Cathedral (officially the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew) is located in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England.
The West Front of the cathedral is internationally famous for its dramatic Early English Gothic west façade, featuring three monumental arches that are architecturally unrivalled. Despite its Gothic front, it remains one of the most intact and finest examples of 12th-century Norman architecture in England. The appearance is slightly asymmetrical, as one of the two towers that rise from behind the façade was never completed (the tower on the right as one faces the building), but this is only visible from a distance.
Inside, it houses a rare, beautifully painted 13th-century wooden nave ceiling (one of only four left in Europe) and 15th-century fan vaulting. It serves as the final resting place of Katharine of Aragon (the first wife of King Henry VIII) and was the initial burial site of Mary, Queen of Scots, before her body was moved to Westminster Abbey.
As the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, it is dedicated to the Apostles Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the three high gables of the West Front. Founded in the Anglo-Saxon period as a minster it became one of England's most important Benedictine abbeys, becoming a cathedral only in 1542. Its architecture is mainly Norman, following a rebuilding in the 12th century. Alongside the cathedrals of Durham and Ely, it is one of the most important 12th-century buildings in England to have remained largely intact, despite extensions and restoration, and is one of the nation's best preserved pre-Reformation abbeys.
Peterborough Cathedral West Front
Peterborough Cathedral (officially the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew) is located in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England.
The West Front of the cathedral is internationally famous for its dramatic Early English Gothic west façade, featuring three monumental arches that are architecturally unrivalled. Despite its Gothic front, it remains one of the most intact and finest examples of 12th-century Norman architecture in England. The appearance is slightly asymmetrical, as one of the two towers that rise from behind the façade was never completed (the tower on the right as one faces the building), but this is only visible from a distance.
Inside, it houses a rare, beautifully painted 13th-century wooden nave ceiling (one of only four left in Europe) and 15th-century fan vaulting. It serves as the final resting place of Katharine of Aragon (the first wife of King Henry VIII) and was the initial burial site of Mary, Queen of Scots, before her body was moved to Westminster Abbey.
As the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, it is dedicated to the Apostles Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the three high gables of the West Front. Founded in the Anglo-Saxon period as a minster it became one of England's most important Benedictine abbeys, becoming a cathedral only in 1542. Its architecture is mainly Norman, following a rebuilding in the 12th century. Alongside the cathedrals of Durham and Ely, it is one of the most important 12th-century buildings in England to have remained largely intact, despite extensions and restoration, and is one of the nation's best preserved pre-Reformation abbeys.