Gloucester Cathedral
The Cathedral of St. Peters and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity of Gloucester , officially "The Cathedral Church of The Holy and Indivisible Trinity" , in Gloucester , England , is to the north of the city near the River Severn . The cathedral was built in 681 from an abbey , the St. Peter consecrated was ( dissolved by Henry VIII. ). It is 123 meters (420 feet) long and 42 meters (144 feet) wide, with a central tower, 68.5 meters (225 feet) high, dating from the 15th century. The tower is a famous landmark with its four points.
The ( apsed ) crypt is one of four that exist in English cathedrals; the others are located in the Worcester Cathedral , the Winchester Cathedral and the Cathedral of Canterbury .
meaning
Gloucester Cathedral is now [1948] “one of the most important and enigmatic monuments in all of art history, which played a decisive role in the development of modern architecture as the starting point for the English arts and crafts reform by William Morris and John Ruskin in the middle of the 19th century . "
prehistory
Gloucester Abbey was founded as a nunnery in the 7th century . In 1022 Benedictines moved in . England had just been subjugated by William the Conqueror in 1066 and the old Anglo-Saxon nobility was increasingly replaced by the new Norman rule when the decrepit old abbey of Gloucester was reoccupied with Abbot Serlo (1072-1104). In the years after 1072 a new church was built in the Norman architectural style. William the Conqueror visited the emerging church several times. At Christmas 1085 he issued the order here in the old chapter house to create the legendary Domesday Book , with which the new ownership structure in the conquered land was recorded. In the years that followed, the abbey received various donations from Wilhelm and his sons, so that in 1089 Bishop Robert von Hereford was able to lay the foundation stone for a new, larger Norman church. It is not known whether this is a completely new beginning or a continuation of the church that Serlo had already started. On June 15, 1100, the consecration followed. At that time only the choir with the gallery and the extensive crypt, the crossing and the first yokes of the nave were probably completed . Then the structure of the wall changed. A fire in 1122 is believed to be the cause.
The gallery was replaced by a narrow triforium and instead of the low arcades of the choir area, round pillars with a diameter of more than two meters now rose a good ten meters. The ship was completed around 1160. The facade was probably two-towered.
Then there was a series of structural damage. Among other things, the south west tower collapsed in 1170. In 1242 the stone vaulting of the nave was completed (after a fire in 1190 had struck the roof structure and made another vault necessary). This created a clear contrast between the mighty Norman pillars and the slender Gothic vault rising from the triforium zone.
Conversions and extensions
At the beginning of the 14th century, the abbey had larger funds that were invested in the beautification of the church. First of all, from 1318 to 1329 the north aisle was renewed and from 1331 to 1337 the south transept was redesigned by not tearing down the Serlo building, but rather by making a renovation. This part of the Serlo building from around 1100 is still largely preserved, but hidden behind a new wall design. The vault was raised, the upper facade window enlarged and the remains of the Norman wall covered with the new tracery forms of the decorated style .
From 1337 to 1377 the choir was renewed, the north transept and the crossing. The Vierungsgewölbe is one of the first Liernengewölbe England ( Liernen are, neither side ribs by the fighters still the keystone out). The entrance to the north transept experienced a particularly unusual vault solution: stalactite-like hanging rib fans without any resemblance to their former load-bearing function in a vault, i.e. free-standing aesthetic structures. Such forms can only be explained by the influence of the Moorish architecture (stalactite vaults).
The choir underwent a particularly intensive and luminous redesign. On the north and south walls, a cladding of the two-storey arch from the 12th century was installed. carried out with a so-called barred display wall. The result was the classic rectangular network of the Perpendicular. The crowning glory of these renovations was the east window from 1347 to 1349, which was provided with rich lattice-like tracery over the entire width and height of the nave. It is the largest color window in England with a height of 25 meters and a width of 12 meters. Its central theme is the Coronation of Mary. It is called the Crécy Window because it was donated by nobles who participated in the Battle of Crécy in 1346.
The cathedral's finest monument is the canopy tomb of King Edward II , who is said to have been murdered in nearby Berkeley Castle . Pilgrims enriched and decorated the building and the choir. In an inner chapel there is a monument from an ureich (preserved from a swamp = Bog Oak) by Robert Curthose , the eldest son of William the Conqueror, who was a great patron of the abbey and was buried there. Further, Bishop Warburton and R. Edward Jenner worth mentioning.
The historian Walter Gloucester († 1412) was the cathedral's first bishop in 1381. Until 1541, the cathedral was under the administration of the Bishop of Worcester , which was then transferred to self-administration by John Wakeman as the first bishop (he was the last head of Tewkesbury Abbey). The diocese looked after the greater part of Gloucestershire and smaller parts of Herefordshire and Wiltshire .
facade
At the beginning of the 15th century the old facade showed weaknesses and was renewed. At the same time, a southwest entrance hall was built, which today forms the main entrance.
Cloister
The southern cloister wing was built in 1357, the eastern one after 1351 to 1377, the rest from 1381 to 1412. The earliest late Gothic fan vaults can be found here (starting from the Chapter House ). Later, some parts of the cloister received Pre-Raphaelite glass windows.
Crossing tower
The crossing tower was built between 1450 and 1457 and reaches a height of 68.5 meters. Its vault had already received one of the first liernen vaults in England in 1337 .
Lady Chapel
The Lady Chapel was built between 1472 and 1499 and is a rectangular glass house with late Gothic tracery.
Cathedral vault
The vaults are particularly imaginative and varied. A star vault with three crown ribs was drawn into the nave. From the palm vault of Exeter Cathedral , the fan vault was created by applying the characteristic Perpendicular Style motif , the blind arch paneling, to the resulting curved cones.
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The vault of the choir (from 1375) is intricately knotted by the countless lines. The star vault adorned by music-making angels forms a prelude to the perpendicular style . The choir vault is six meters higher than that of the central nave. It is the first fan vault .
Gloucester has all of the elements typical of the Perpendicular Style. For Martin Hürlimann, this cathedral is "one of the most important and enigmatic monuments in all of art history". Here “a new world of shapes emerged in one fell swoop”. The Perpendicular Style, which began in London in 1330, culminated in the Gloucester Choir (1337-1367). The reticulated vault used here does not show any fundamental difference to those of the decorated style. In addition to the crown rib, a secondary rib formed from lines runs on each side. The entire vault area is covered by a barely visible network of various types of ribs and a multitude of keystones. The diagonal ribs run to the next but one pillar. The net vault of the Lady Chapel (1472–99), which is actually a Norman pointed barrel vault with stitch caps , functions in a very similar way - without the supporting function of the ribbed netting.
The east wing of the honey-colored stone cloister (1351-77) has, in addition to the Chapter House of Hereford (1350/60), the earliest fully developed fan vaults, with which not only the rest of the cloister was equipped, but also those for the entire vault building in England played a leading role until the 17th century. The fan ribs of this shape, which is often compared to a spreading trumpet flower, do not end at a crown rib, but rather have round delimiting lines, so that clearly separated, semi-cup-shaped fan units are created that only touch their opposite or side counterparts tangentially at one point or in a short line. The horizontal star figure that remains free at the apex is provided with fits, while tracery is also inscribed between the ribs. The profile thickness of the ribs has been significantly reduced and adjusted to one another, so that the vault looks like a wide, finely woven surface in waves, and in its internal structure like a cell system that organically creates new cells.
window
In 2014 a church window designed by Tom Denny was presented to the public. It is dedicated to Ivor Gurney , who became known both as a poet of the First World War and as a composer and who worked as a choir singer and organist at the cathedral. The window is seen as a tribute not only to Gurney, but to all participants in the First World War.
organ
The organ was built in 1971 by the organ builders Hill, Norman & Beard. From 1999 the instrument was revised by the organ builder Nicholson and the disposition expanded. The instrument has 61 stops on four manuals and a pedal . The actions are electro-pneumatic.
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Timetable
- 678–679: A small religious community is founded here by Osric in Anglo-Saxon times .
- 1017: The monastery is handed over to the Benedictines.
- 1072: Serlo, the first Norman abbot, takes over the dilapidated monastery by order of William I (William the Conqueror).
- 1089: Foundation stone laid for a new abbey church by Robert de Losinga, Bishop of Hereford
- 1100: Consecration of St. Peter's Abbey
- 1216: First coronation of King Henry III.
- 1327: burial of King Edward II.
- 1331: Redesign of the choir in the perpendicular style
- 1373: The great cloister is started under Abbot Horton; completed by Abbot Frouster (1381–1412).
- 1420: West facade renewed under Abbot Morwent
- 1450: The crossing tower is started under Abbot Sebrok; completed under Robert Tully.
- 1470: The Lady Chapel is renewed under Abbot Hanley, completed under Abbot Farley (1472–98).
- 1540: the abbey is abolished
- 1541: Re-established as a cathedral under King Henry VIII.
- 1616–21: William Laud is dean.
- 1649–60: Abolition of the monastery hierarchy - changed reinstatement under Charles II.
- 1735–52: Martin Benson, Bishop of Gloucester, orders major repairs and changes to the cathedral.
- 1847–73: Beginning of the extensive Victorian restoration (FS Waller and Sir George Gilbert Scott , architects)
- 1953: Further restoration work
- 1968: Roof renewal and other major repairs
- 1989: 900th anniversary celebration
- 1994: The restoration of the crossing tower is completed.
- 2000: 900th anniversary of the consecration of St. Peter's Abbey
Trivia
The cathedral has served as the backdrop for three Harry Potter films since 2000 . Although this generated revenue and publicity, on the other hand it was criticized that the themes of the films are incompatible with the religious significance of a church. The cathedral is also used for performances by the Kings School, Gloucester .
literature
- Issam Eldin Abdou Badr: From the vault to the spatial structure. Dissertation. Dielsdorf 1962, DNB 571779859 .
- Harry Batsford, Charles Fry: The Cathedrals of England. 7th edition. BT Batsford, London 1948.
- Henning Bock : The Decorated Style. Investigations into the English cathedral architecture of the first half of the 14th century. Heidelberg 1962, DNB 450513831 .
- Franz Hart: Art and technology of the vault. Munich 1965, DNB 451837738 .
- Martin Hürlimann: English cathedrals. Zurich 1948.
- Nikolaus Pevsner : European architecture from the beginning to the present. 3. Edition. Munich 1973.
- Werner Schäfke : English cathedrals. A journey through the highlights of English architecture from 1066 to the present day. (DuMont art travel guide), Cologne 1983, ISBN 3-7701-1313-6 , pp. 87–93, figs. 19–26; Color plate 3, 19th
- Wim Swaan: The great cathedrals. Cologne 1969, p. 217, figs. 250–256, 258.
- Wim Swaan: Art and Culture of the Late Gothic. Herder, Freiburg 1978, ISBN 3-451-17928-8 .
- Rolf Toman (ed.): The art of the Romanesque. Architecture - sculpture - painting. Könemann, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-89508-213-9 , p. 231.
- Leonie von Wilckens: Outline of occidental art history. [1967], Kröner, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-520-37301-7 , p. 137.
credentials
- ↑ Harry Batsford, Charles Fry: The Cathedrals of England. P. 44.
- ^ Martin Hürlimann: English cathedrals . Zurich 1948, p. 31.
- ^ Martin Hürlimann: English cathedrals. Zurich 1948, p. 31.
- ↑ Gloucester Cathedral's Ivor Gurney window a WW1 'tribute' on BBC News, March 29, 2014, accessed March 30, 2014.
- ↑ Comprehensive information about the organ on the cathedral website
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 52 '3 " N , 2 ° 14' 48" W.