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The west front of Winchester Cathedral just before sunset on a winter afternoon with gentle haze.

 

The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winchester Cathedral, is the cathedral of the city of Winchester, England, and is among the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Winchester and is the mother church for the Church of England’s Diocese of Winchester.

 

The cathedral as it stands today was built from 1079 to 1532. It has a very long and very wide nave in the Perpendicular Gothic style, an Early English retrochoir, and Norman transepts and tower. With an overall length of 170 metres, it is the longest medieval cathedral in the world, and only surpassed by five more churches, four of them built in the 20th Century. It is also the sixth-largest cathedral by area in England.

 

The first Christian church in Winchester can be traced back to c. 648, when King Cenwalh of Wessex built a small, cross-shaped building just north of the present building. This ‘Old Minster’, became the cathedral for the new Diocese of Winchester in 662, but no trace of it other than its ground plan exists today. From 963 to 993, bishop Æthelwold and then Alphege greatly expanded the church, which was briefly the largest church in Europe. Also on the same site was the New Minster, in direct competition with the neighbouring Old Minster, begun by Alfred the Great but completed in 901 by his son Edward the Elder.

 

The present building, however, was begun after the Norman Conquest, perhaps inevitably. William the Conqueror installed his friend and relative Walkelin as the first Norman Bishop of Winchester in 1070, and nine years later, in 1079, Walkelin began the construction of a huge new Norman cathedral, on a site just to the south of the Old and New Minsters, the site of the present building. The new cathedral was consecrated with the completion of the east end in 1093, and the following day, demolition of the New and Old Minsters began and left virtually no remains.

 

Work quickly progressed to the transepts and central tower, and these were certainly complete by 1100. In 1107, the central tower fell but was reconstructed and much of the work on this core of the present building was completed by 1129 to a very high standard, much of it surviving today.

 

A new Early English retrochoir was started in 1202, but the next expansions after that would not start until 1346, when Bishop Edington demolished the Norman west front and began building a new Perpendicular Gothic facade, featuring a huge west window, which still stands today. Edington also began renovation of the nave, but this was mostly carried out by his successors, most notably William of Wykeham and his master mason, William Wynford, who remodelled the massive Norman nave into a soaring Perpendicular Gothic masterpiece. This they achieved by encasing the Norman stone in new ashlar, recutting the piers with Gothic mouldings and pointed arches, and reorganising the three-tier nave into two tiers, by extending the arcade upwards into what was the triforium and extending the clerestory downwards to meet it. The wooden ceiling was replaced with a decorative stone vault. Following Wykeham's death in 1404, this remodelling work continued under successive bishops, being completed ca. 1420.

 

Between then and 1528, major rebuilding and expansion was carried out on the Norman choir and Early English retrochoir. This work included the building of further chantry chapels, the replacement of the Norman east end with a Perpendicular Gothic presbytery, and the extension of Luci's retrochoir into a Lady Chapel. Unlike the rebuilding of the nave some 100 years earlier, the Gothic presbytery was vaulted in wood and painted to look like stone, as at York Minster. With its progressive extensions, the east end is now about 34 metres beyond that of Walkelin's building.

 

With Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Priory of Saint Swithun, was dissolved in 1539, and the cathedral’s shrines and altar were destroyed. The monastic buildings, including the cloister and chapter house, were later demolished, mostly during the 1560–1580 tenure of the reformist bishop Robert Horne.

 

The 17th century saw important changes to the interior, including the erection of a choir screen by Inigo Jones in 1638–39, the insertion of a wooden fan vault underneath the crossing tower (previously the tower was open to the church) and the destruction of much medieval glass and imagery by Parliamentarian soldiers in December 1642, including the near-complete destruction of the massive Great West Window by Cromwell and his forces. The window was put back together by the townspeople as a mosaic following the Restoration of the Monarchy, but it has never regained its original appearance, the damage was too great.

 

In the 18th century, many visitors commented on the neglect of the cathedral and the town; Daniel Defoe described the latter in about 1724 as “a place of no trade… no manufacture, no navigation”. Major restoration, however, followed in the early 19th Century under the direction of architect William Garbett and then John Nash

 

At the turn of the 20th century, Winchester Cathedral was in grave danger of collapse. Huge cracks had appeared in the walls, some of them large enough for a small child to crawl into, the walls were bulging and leaning, and stone fell from the walls. After several false solutions that may have made things worse, over six years from 1906-12, diver William Walker worked six or seven hour shifts every day diving through septic water full of corpses and laying a new cement under-layer for the cathedral and its foundations. Walker laid more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks, and 900,000 bricks. In 1911, flying buttresses were also added along the length of the south nave to complete the work.

 

In 2011, a new single-story extension in the corner of the north presbytery aisle was completed, the first new extension on the cathedral since the mid-16th Century, housing toilet facilities, storage and a new boiler. An extensive programme of interior restoration was completed between 2012-19.

 

This description incorporates text from the English Wikipedia.

The Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin

I made this photo in August 1973, my first time in Paris. It was made with a Nikon Nikkormat Ftn with Agfachrome color slide film.

The Cathedral Cloisters, Wells, Somerset, 12 May 2014

This sacred monastery (dedicated to Mary, the Queen of All) was founded by a chief minister of the late Byzantine Despotate of the Morea, Giannis Frankopoulos, and was dedicated in September 1428.

 

It is the only monastery on the site still permanently inhabited. Today it is inhabited by nuns. Its beautifully ornate stone-carved façade is of particular architectural note.

 

The church and its bell tower reflect a unique combination of Byzantine and gothic styles.

Spolia of faith on the back streets of Venezia. Possibly late 600 - 700.AD

This Fridays trip was a short one to Winchester Cathedral. The original cathedral was founded in 642AD an todays cathedral was built by the Normans in 1079. Winchester in Hampshire was once the capital city of Anglo Saxon England. Winchester cathedral is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe.

It is well worth reading the Wiki page if you are interested in English history.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Cathedral

Bryggen is a historic harbour district in Bergen, one of North Europe’s oldest port cities on the west coast of Norway which was established as a centre for trade by the 12th century.

 

In 1350 the Hanseatic League established a “Hanseatic Office” in Bergen. They gradually acquired ownership of Bryggen and controlled the trade in stockfish from Northern Norway through privileges granted by the Crown. The Hanseatic League established a total of four overseas Hanseatic Offices, Bryggen being the only one preserved today.

 

whc.unesco.org/en/list/59

Southwark Cathedral in south London dates back to 1106AD but has been a holy site for many years longer. I took these photos with my Samsung phone camera. The cathedral is surrounded by other buildings and is difficult to get any long shots

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwark_Cathedral

© LAWRENCE GOLDMAN 2015

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Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle and seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built in 1176–1450 to replace an earlier church on the site since 705, it is moderately sized for an English cathedral. Its broad west front and large central tower are dominant features. It has been called "unquestionably one of the most beautiful" and "most poetic" of English cathedrals

The rooftop of the brick tower of Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire.

Agios Neophytos Monastery -

 

A monastery founded by St Neophytos (1134–1214) after various alarums and adventures including a trip to the Holy Land and a spell in jail, originally as a hermit's cave. Unfortunately for him, perhaps, Neophytos soon acquired determined followers and his life of seclusion did not last for long.

 

Paphos, Cyprus, 23 April 2018

The famous towers of San Gimignano. San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. It is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which may be seen from several kilometers outside the town.

 

The town also is known for the white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, grown in the area.

 

You should enjoy this place!

More Info about San Gimignano on Wikipedia

  

To take this picture i had to drive outside of San Gimignano to the top of one of the hills next to the old town.

 

Canon EOS 40D

Canon 70-200 2.8 L @ 200

1/800 second exposure @F6.3

ISO 200

RAW file processed with Photoshop.

Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, United Kingdom. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075

Visit to the Tower of London the 2nd of July 2021. I had to book a ticket on line so booked the first slot at 9am. It was very slow there due to Covid-19 but great to visit without the crowds that would be there from all over the world in normal times. The Tower of London dates back to 1066 with the White Tower being built in 1078. The castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London

Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, United Kingdom. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075. I visited again on the 28th of July 2021. Had a nice walk around inside the cathedral and and around the outside too where the changing clouds made an interest back drop

Tomb of Bishop Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs, first bishop of the revived See of Coventry, in the ruins of the old St Michael's Cathedral. (Regnat 1918-1922; fl. 1845-1922.)

 

This bronze effigy of him was commissioned from Hamo Thornycroft, and was the only artefact to survive more or less intact the bombing of Coventry Cathedral in 1940.

 

The original St Michael’s Cathedral was almost completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe; the rubble was not cleared for seven years. Largely constructed in the late 14th and 15th Centuries in red sandstone, it was one of the largest parish churches in England and only elevated to cathedral status in 1918 with the creation of the Diocese of Coventry as a result of rapid population growth in the industrial West Midlands. The Perpendicular Gothic spire still dominates the site: the top of the weathervane is 88 metres above the ground, making it the tallest structure in Coventry; among Church of England cathedrals, only Norwich and Salisbury have a higher spire. The ruins remain a permanent memorial to the 600 or so residents of Coventry who died on the night the cathedral was destroyed. The site of the ruins is open to visitors is are occasionally used for acts of worship, particularly those related to reconciliation.

 

Just occasionally people tell me they don’t like Coventry Cathedral. I couldn’t disagree more; a powerful symbol of Resurrection, restored to a very different life barely twenty years after being destroyed in the Blitz on 14 November 1940. The Modernist Cathedral of St Michael of the 20th Century both surrounded by and incomprehensible without the ruins of 14th Century building that surrounds it.

 

Coventry Cathedral incarnates the twin and interconnected British revivals of the two decades after the end of the Second World War – a revival of high culture and a revival of Christian faith. Basil Spence’s cathedral housing Jacob Epstein’s sculptures, John Piper’s massive arrangements of stained glass into windows, and Graham Sutherland’s tapestry, still in 2021 the largest in the world, represent collectively a totemic achievement in modernist visual arts and architecture.

 

The brief for the competition to select the architect of the new Cathedral demanded that the design emphasise the celebration of the Eucharist; Spence himself had a further vision of the building as the repository of great modern works of art. He described his building as “a plain jewel casket”. Piper’s windows cast shafts of colour into the heart of the nave, while the plain glass West Screen, which faces to the geographical south, allows much natural light into the building, essential given that the east end is entirely filled with Graham Sutherland’s great tapestry, still the largest in the world at 22 metres tall by 12 metres wide.

 

Coventry Cathedral was built to a tight budget – “not more than £985,000” – and making much use of reinforced concrete, the new cathedral was constructed in just six years, between Queen Elizabeth II laying the foundation stone on 23 March 1956 and the dedication ceremony on 25 May 1962.

 

Could there have been a finer or more appropriate setting for the world première of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem on 30 May 1962? On that night, the Cathedral’s great post-War religious theme was also incarnated in the three soloists: Peter Pears (Britten’s partner) from the host nation, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau from Germany, Galina Vishnevskaya from the USSR, representing three belligerent nations. That tri-national partnership continues to be symbolised by the presence of a replica of the Stalingrad Madonna given by the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, where the original hangs, with a second copy being in Kazan Cathedral in Volgograd.

 

A building that breathes with the presence of the Holy Spirit, giving new life the Church in every generation.

 

This description incorporates text from the English Wikipedia.

Chichester's beautiful medieval Cathedral was built by the Normans in 1075.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichester_Cathedral

Restaurant Egon, Bryggen, Bergen, Norway.

 

Restaurant Egon has a special and nice atmosphere in an old merchant building. It is located next to the fish market in Bergen.

 

The city’s wealth and importance were due to its membership in the heavyweight medieval trading club of merchant cities called the Hanseatic League. From 1370 to 1754, German merchants controlled Bergen's trade.

 

www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/a-bite...

The Holsten Gate is a city gate marking off the western boundary of the old center of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. This Brick Gothic construction is one of the relics of Lübeck’s medieval city fortifications and the only remaining city gate. Because its two round towers and arched entrance are so well known it is regarded today as a symbol of this German city, and together with the old city centre of Lübeck it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, United Kingdom. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075. I visited again on the 28th of July 2021. Had a nice walk around inside the cathedral and and around the outside too where the changing clouds made an interest back drop

Autumn - Fort Tryon Park - New York City (details below)

 

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Camera: Sony a99 | Lens: Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm f/2.8

 

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Something I have been meaning to do is to travel to and explore upper Manhattan. When I found out that The Cloisters is currently hosting its first ever contemporary art exhibit on Sōsh, a great new app that highlights activities all over New York City, I knew I had to check it out.

 

The exhibit is called "Forty Part Motet" and is a sound installation by Janet Cardiff. If you are on Sōsh and search for The Cloisters, the activity will show up for you along with transit directions, a map, and the museum's (suggested) admission price.

 

It is an eleven minute musical piece that plays 40 voices on 40 different speakers in a 12th century apse called the Fuentidueña Chapel. It's absolutely mesmerizing and overwhelming to experience the unity of voices in such a great acoustic space surrounded by 12th century artifacts.

 

I also spent a little time exploring Fort Tryon Park which is currently at autumn peak. What a perfect afternoon.

  

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The Arno River reflect the bright colours of the buildings surrounding the Ponte Vecchio

 

Wiki: The Ponte Vecchio is a Medieval bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for still having shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewellers, art dealers and souvenir sellers.

 

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Saturday 14th of August 2021 and a trip to the closest Cathedral to me in Portsmouth. Portsmouth Cathedral was built in 1180AD and paid for my a local wealthy Norman merchant. It has a very interesting history. In 1449AD the Bishop of Chichester was murdered in Portsmouth by sailors so the cathedral was closed for a time and the people of Portsmouth excommunicated! The Cathedral is just a short walk from the closest beach at the Hot Walls.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_Cathedral

The majority of Strasbourg's buildings date from XVIth - XVIIth centuries, often consisting in medieval, masonned ground floor and several breve floors with half-timbered, corbelled style.

 

more info Petite France, historical centre

The medieval architecture of Prague Old Town as seen from the main square in the Old Town.

 

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St Mary's Church in Sevington, Kent.

The exterior of the Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey, seen from outside the House of Lords on St Margaret's Street.

 

The chapel was begun in 1503 and constructed for Henry VII. It is the last great masterpiece of English medieval architecture. In 1545 John Leland called it "the wonder of the entire world". The designers are not known but they were possibly Robert Janyns and William Vertue.

 

Inside, behind the altar is the tomb of Henry VII and his queen, Elizabeth of York. James I is also buried in the vault in the chapel. In the north aisle of the chapel is the tomb of Elizabeth I and her half-sister Mary I. In the south aisle are monuments to Mary, Queen of Scots and Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. Here also is the vault where Charles II, William III and Mary II and Queen Anne lie, although none of them has a monument. George II, the last monarch to be buried at the Abbey, is interred in a vault below the central part of the chapel. For those of you who want to know more about the chapel, the following link gives probably everything you could possibly want to know: npu.edu.ua/!e-book/book/djvu/A/iif_kgpm_Tatton_Brown_West...

 

Westminster Abbey was made a World Heritage Site in 1987. An early morning start allowed me to get this shot with an almost complete absence of the hordes of tourists normally seen around here!

Prague is a delightful city to explore on foot with its extraordinary architecture, charming cobblestone lanes and enchanting churches, squares and buildings.

 

Old Town revolves around Old Town Square which is laced in history and architectural genius and remains the historic heart and the soul of the city. Many believe it is the grandest, most magnificent square in all of Eastern Europe with its intricate pathways of cobblestone streets reminiscent of medieval times and its brightly-hued pastel buildings each with a history of its own right.

 

thirdeyemom.com/2016/06/23/a-walking-tour-of-prague-old-t...

The closest Cathedral to me is Portsmouth Cathedral which was built in 1180AD and paid for my a local wealthy Norman merchant. It has a very interesting history. In 1449AD the Bishop of Chichester was murdered in Portsmouth by sailors so the cathedral was closed and the people of Portsmouth excommunicated!

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_Cathedral

A replica of the Josefina de Vasconcellos sculpture entitled ‘Reconciliation’ in the ruins of the old Coventry Cathedral. Originally created in 1977 and entitled Reunion, it depicts a man and woman embracing each other. De Vasconcellos said, “The sculpture was originally conceived in the aftermath of the War. Europe was in shock, people were stunned. I read in a newspaper about a woman who crossed Europe on foot to find her husband, and I was so moved that I made the sculpture. Then I thought that it wasn't only about the reunion of two people but hopefully a reunion of nations which had been fighting.”

 

In the 1990s, after repairs, it was renamed Reconciliation upon the request of the Peace Studies Department of the University of Bradford. In 1995 (to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II) bronze casts were placed in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, depicted here, and the Hiroshima Peace Park. Additional replicas are now in the Stormont Estate in Belfast and at the Reichstag in Berlin.

 

The original St Michael’s Cathedral was almost completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe; the rubble was not cleared for seven years. Largely constructed in the late 14th and 15th Centuries in red sandstone, it was one of the largest parish churches in England and only elevated to cathedral status in 1918 with the creation of the Diocese of Coventry as a result of rapid population growth in the industrial West Midlands. The Perpendicular Gothic spire still dominates the site: the top of the weathervane is 88 metres above the ground, making it the tallest structure in Coventry; among Church of England cathedrals, only Norwich and Salisbury have a higher spire. The ruins remain a permanent memorial to the 600 or so residents of Coventry who died on the night the cathedral was destroyed. The site of the ruins is open to visitors is are occasionally used for acts of worship, particularly those related to reconciliation.

 

Just occasionally people tell me they don’t like Coventry Cathedral. I couldn’t disagree more; a powerful symbol of Resurrection, restored to a very different life barely twenty years after being destroyed in the Blitz on 14 November 1940. The Modernist Cathedral of St Michael of the 20th Century both surrounded by and incomprehensible without the ruins of 14th Century building that surrounds it.

 

Coventry Cathedral incarnates the twin and interconnected British revivals of the two decades after the end of the Second World War – a revival of high culture and a revival of Christian faith. Basil Spence’s cathedral housing Jacob Epstein’s sculptures, John Piper’s massive arrangements of stained glass into windows, and Graham Sutherland’s tapestry, still in 2021 the largest in the world, represent collectively a totemic achievement in modernist visual arts and architecture.

 

The brief for the competition to select the architect of the new Cathedral demanded that the design emphasise the celebration of the Eucharist; Spence himself had a further vision of the building as the repository of great modern works of art. He described his building as “a plain jewel casket”. Piper’s windows cast shafts of colour into the heart of the nave, while the plain glass West Screen, which faces to the geographical south, allows much natural light into the building, essential given that the east end is entirely filled with Graham Sutherland’s great tapestry, still the largest in the world at 22 metres tall by 12 metres wide.

 

Coventry Cathedral was built to a tight budget – “not more than £985,000” – and making much use of reinforced concrete, the new cathedral was constructed in just six years, between Queen Elizabeth II laying the foundation stone on 23 March 1956 and the dedication ceremony on 25 May 1962.

 

Could there have been a finer or more appropriate setting for the world première of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem on 30 May 1962? On that night, the Cathedral’s great post-War religious theme was also incarnated in the three soloists: Peter Pears (Britten’s partner) from the host nation, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau from Germany, Galina Vishnevskaya from the USSR, representing three belligerent nations. That tri-national partnership continues to be symbolised by the presence of a replica of the Stalingrad Madonna given by the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, where the original hangs, with a second copy being in Kazan Cathedral in Volgograd.

 

A building that breathes with the presence of the Holy Spirit, giving new life the Church in every generation.

 

This description incorporates text from the English Wikipedia.

St Mary's Church in Brook, Kent.

Sunlight highlights the main ceremonial building making up the Guild Hall. The semi circle in the foreground marks the site of an ancient Roman amphitheater, the ruins of which can be found beneath the gallery on the right.

 

Guildhall is a building in the City of London. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London. The term Guildhall refers both to the whole building and to its main room, which is a medieval-style great hall.

  

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