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Sherborne Abbey, Sherborne, Dorset
The nave vault was started in approx. 1480 under the guidance of Abbot Peter Ramsam (1475-1504), who has left his signature in the form of a rebus on three of the bosses.
The presence of Tudor heraldry dates the ceilings completion to after 1485.
The fans are polygonal with a mixture of ribbed and webbed design, bespangle with bosses.
It is thought the designed and executioner was William Smyth, Master Mason of Wells who died in 1490.
Inside the Cabinet War Rooms.
During the Second World War, a group of basement offices in Whitehall served as the centre of Britain’s war effort. The complex, known as the Cabinet War Rooms, was occupied by leading government ministers, military strategists and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Following the devastation of the First World War, military planners feared up to 200,000 casualties from bombing in the first week of a future war.
Plans to evacuate the prime minister, cabinet and essential staff from London were drawn up as early as the 1920s, but concern that Londoners would feel abandoned if the prime minister and government were in a safe place, and issues about the speed of evacuation, led to a search for an emergency shelter in central London.
In June 1938 the New Public Offices building was selected. It was near Parliament, with a strong steel frame and a large basement.
The basement was adapted to provide meeting places for the War Cabinet during air raids and also housed a military information centre based around a ‘Map Room'. Here, vital information for King George VI, Prime Minister Churchill and the armed forces was collected.
The Cabinet War Rooms became fully operational on 27 August 1939, a week before Britain declared war on Germany.
Churchill’s War Cabinet met here 115 times, most often during the Blitz and the later German V-weapon offensive.
The Cabinet War Rooms were in use 24 hours a day until 16 August 1945, when the lights were turned off in the Map Room for the first time in six years.
[Imperial War Museum]
The Banqueting Hall of the old Greenwich Hospital, with its extraordinary Baroque decoration. Designed by Wren, but completed by Hawksmoor and Sir John Vanbrugh, famous for its Baroque Painted Hall, which was painted by Sir James Thornhill in honour of King William and Queen Mary.
12.10.06
"Our space is one of contrasts, a fusion of the old and new, the heavenly and worldly. Traditional Korean architecture contrasts with elements of modernism found in the chic lightings, tea bar and angular dark wood furniture. Commanding the ceiling, the decorative Korean dan chung mural contrasts with the simplicity of the walls. The colorful elaborate patterns on the ceiling which were traditionally used to enhance the majesty of ceilings in Korean palaces and temples symbolized the utopian world of ultimate freedom and peace. At Franchia, the dan chung represents our philosophy of freeing the mind and spirit through tea tao."
Greek muses ceiling detail.
A look inside the Teatro Heredia, a theatre that was restored from bare walls starting in 1987. The theatre features a huge curtain / mural painted by famed Colombian artist Enrique Grau.
Norwich Cathedral is one of England's finest buildings and greatest cathedrals; It is one of the most complete examples of Romanesque architecture in the country (arguably the least altered Norman cathedral), has the second tallest spire in Britain and it's vaulted ceilings contain the largest collection of carved medieval roof bosses anywhere.
Surprisingly for so grand a building it is relatively inconspicuous from the city itself, standing on low ground and concealed within the old Cathedral Close, an enclave of tradition and relative peace apart from the noise of the city beyond it's gates. It's monastic past is much in evidence, particularly the magnificent cloisters, the largest and some of the finest in the country.
As stated most of the building dates from the 12th century and therefore exudes that solid Norman aesthetic, massively built but still graceful and beautiful. The central tower is unusually designed with arcading and windows beneath a double row of oculi, the tapering spire above it is a 15th century addition, aside from this the only major alterations to the ancient fabric externally are the tall 14th century clerestorey and flying buttresses of the choir and the gothic enlargement of various nave and aisle windows, principally the great perpendicular west window that takes up most of the west facade.
The interior is predominantly Norman too, except for the elaborate gothic vaulted ceilings that cover nave, choir and both transepts with a uniform design (originally these higher celings would have been of wood, stone vaults were added in the late medieval period to protect against fire, a job they performed well when the transept roofs were hit by incendiary bombs in World War II). These vaults display an unrivalled collection of narrative roof bosses, carved and coloured with Old & New Testament scenes (mainly in the nave and transepts, the choir bosses are mostly decorated with the emblem of their donor, Bishop Goldwell).
The cathedral has surprisingly few major monuments and sculptures compared to most of it's peers, but does have more exceptional medieval art in it's 14th & 15th century painted altarpieces, the most important being the Despenser Retable in the south east chapel, a unique survivial, hidden from danger during the Reformation & Civil War by being converted to the underside of a table. Further altarpieces here are formed of salvaged panels from redundant city churches. The medieval choir stalls also survive with a full set of carved misericords.
The stained glass by contrast is mostly Victorian and quite mixed (very little medieval glass survives). Striking modern glass by Keith New and John Hayward was installed in the north transept to commemorate the Millennium.
The cloisters to the south of the nave are one of my favourite places, all four walks are covered by yet more vaulted ceilings with over 400 more carved and repainted bosses (lower down and much easier to study than those inside the main body of the cathedral) spanning the long period of the cloister's construction throughout the 14th & !5th centuries.
Norwich Cathedral is special to me as being the subject of my earliest memories, recalling having been taken around the cathedral and cloisters as a 3 year old, which left a vivid impression on me and lead me to pursue an interest in church art and architecture years later, ultimately towards my present career in stained glass. Norwich Cathedral will always therefore have a touch of that nostalgic magic to me.
For more details see the Cathedral website below:-
www.cathedral.org.uk/historyheritage/Default.aspx
For more images and details see Simon Knott's entry on his Norfolk Churches website below:-
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichcathedral/norwichcathedr...
A tiny ceiling detail from the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg.
Wikipedia: The Peter and Paul Cathedral (Russian: Петропавловский собор) is a Russian Orthodox cathedral located inside the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is the first and oldest landmark in St. Petersburg, built between 1712 and 1733 on Zayachy Island along the Neva River. Both the cathedral and the fortress were originally built under Peter the Great and designed by Domenico Trezzini. The cathedral's bell tower is the world's tallest Orthodox bell tower. Since the belfry is not standalone, but an integral part of the main building, the cathedral is sometimes considered the highest Orthodox Church in the world.
The Legislative Council chamber of the Queensland Parliament. This room is no longer used for legislating, since the upper house was abolished in 1922. It's still fitted out as a parliamentary chamber, but is now used only to host functions and VIP visits.
The lighting balance was a killer for this shot. We have daylight streaming in the windows, tungsten lighting from the chandeliers, and strips of fluorescents around the edges of the ceiling (making that greenish glow).
A masterpiece of late Gothic architecture: the ceiling of the Divinity School at the Bodleian Library Oxford.
Coimbra library ceiling .
The reason that the ceiling looks pristine is that the library is unlit, no light is permitted so no flash on the camera also no noise so no shutter, but my camera has an e-shutter and I cradled it upwards and pressed the shutter. The library is kept in near darkness to preserve the books some of which are centuries old i.e. over 500 years. Also you have limited time inside to limit the humidity from your breath, so if you visit be aware of the limitations that you will face.
Danish Museum of Art & Design (Designmuseum Danmark), Bredgade, Copenhagen, Denmark. København, Danmark.
Believe me! You can see amazing detail in ORIGINAL SIZE
These are two photos with a little variation in lighting. I let a tad more light in this shot. I could not decide which was best, so I posted both. May be we can have a contest...
Igreja de Sta.Maria
St.Mary's Church
Bragança
Portugal 2007