Ely Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity , officially: "The Cathedral Church of The Holy and Undivided Trinity" of Ely in Cambridgeshire is widely known as a prime example of Romanesque-Norman architecture because of its Romanesque core and basic Norman concept. Their building elements have a large number of Gothic forms, the use of which began here as early as the 12th century, i.e. before the Gothic came to Germany.
The present complex goes back to a Benedictine foundation from the 7th century. Allegedly, Saint Etheldedra , then Queen of Northumbria , had been abbess from 673. Here on a hill on the Isle of Ely in what was then a swampy area, the Anglo-Saxons had been able to defend themselves against the Normans until 1071 .
The Norman new building
Under William I , the Romanesque new building as an abbey church was started in 1083 by the Norman abbot Simeon , a brother of Abbot Walkelin of Winchester and a former monk of St. Ouen near Rouen, who was then 90 years old. First they started with the choir .
The east transept was built between 1087 and 1093 with aisles originally running around on three sides of the wings. The arcades of this transept are today the oldest parts of the first construction phase. Today's hammer beam vault with its colorful angels dates from the 15th century. The choir has been renewed in a Gothic style.
Construction continued in 1109, now as the cathedral of an abbot bishop .
The 12- bay nave dates from the 12th century and has the tallest central nave in England. It was “completed” in 1180. It has a three-part elevation with a change of columns and galleries . The two lower floors are largely equivalent (gallery arches are divided into two parts), but the height of the Lichtgaden is hardly inferior (three-arched). The number of arches per yoke increases from bottom to top in a ratio of 1: 2: 3. The services rising from the floor are only crimped by two narrow horizontal bands. Despite their size, they are not designed to curve, but rather as a pure wall structure. The later wooden hipped ceiling, painted 1858–65, covers the rafter roof . Its creator Henry Styleman le Strange was based on the ceiling of St. Michael (Hildesheim) .
The portal on the south aisle with a representation of the Majestas Domini (“Prior's Door”) dates from around 1140 . An influence from southwest France is likely. The gate led to the no longer existing cloister (similar to the "Monk's Door" to the former east arm of the cloister). Around 1200–1215, a Galilee was attached to the west under Bishop Eustace .
When the construction work then stagnated, the nave, west tower and western transept were only built up to the height of the triforias.
The western transept
After a break of thirty years, the west tower and west transept were completed under Bishop Geoffrey Ridel (1174–89). The new master builder succeeded in splendidly completing the work, which had begun in Romanesque forms, with the consistent use of early Gothic pointed arches and fine ornaments, without creating any disharmony between old and new.
The southern arm of the western transept ends with a pair of small corner towers. The north arm of the transept collapsed at the end of the 16th century and was not restored. This made the west facade asymmetrical.
On the outside of this transept, blind arcades and openings are lined up in five storeys, on those of the corner towers in seven storeys. Inside there is a blind arcade made up of intersecting arches. This plastic further development of the cross-arch frieze coming from the Lombard Romanesque was to become typical of the English Gothic.
The importance of Elys in English architectural history
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In its long building history, Ely shows a process that can also be traced back to other English cathedrals and that represents a general criterion of English architecture: the increase in decorative forms down to extreme forms . In Durham the decoration of the pure architectural elements was still limited to the arches, pillars and ribs. The structure of the building was thereby emphasized. But even on the plinths of the aisles in Durham there was a tendency to cover the wall surfaces with blind arcades. Here in Ely it can be observed in the Norman-Romanesque components that the decorative forms become independent, no longer underline the architectural structure, but gain intrinsic value - sometimes directed against the structure. Whole walls are covered with decorative shapes. The impression of overgrowth arises when every area, no matter how small, is covered with intricate and intricate detail shapes (Ely, west transept, south wing).
This process goes so far that the architectural elements themselves are "ornamented", their originally supporting or structuring function is "forgotten" and threatens to sink into the play of forms (here in Ely especially near the burial chapel of Bishop Alcocks in the choir). "In the later 12th century, in the late phase of Romanesque art, this experienced an increase that could no longer be surpassed . " The old Anglo-Saxon need for jewelery, which abruptly disappeared from architecture with the Norman conquest of the island in 1066, is once again clearly evident. In Ely, this process can be traced from construction phase to construction phase.
The new building of the choir
Under Bishop Hugh of Northwold , the polygonal Romanesque choir was demolished and replaced from 1234 by today's six-bay Gothic choir, completed in 1252. Its rectangular end is typical of the English Gothic. All arcades have pointed arches decorated with tracery , the windows of the upper aisles also have pointed arches, those of the galleries and side aisles have mostly flattened round arches, as they only appear elsewhere in the late Gothic. The central nave has a complicated fan and mesh vault , the side aisles have a ribbed vault .
The new crossing in the east
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In 1322 the eastern crossing tower collapsed. At that time the abbey was headed by Bishop John Hotham (1316-1337). He is responsible for the decision not to simply reconstruct the old tower, but to venture into a completely new shape.
After 1322 the new crossing and the three adjoining choir bays were built (approx. 1328–40). The crossing itself is an eight-sided dome room in the full width of the nave. Its diameter is 25 meters. A complicated eight-sided wooden construction by the master William Hurley, the king's carpenter, rises above the lower octagon, who - clearly documented - imitated a London model. He had 16 long triangular wooden girders converge upwards from the eight pillars - according to the hammer scaffolding principle - and carry the mighty wooden lantern (wooden framework rotated 22.5 ° to form a stone octagon). Two of these girders rest on one of the eight pillars and together carry the load of a good 400 tons of the wooden structure. Hurley, however, placed ribs under the wood covering, suggesting a stone construction.
The lantern is provided with wooden tracery to sufficiently illuminate the crossing area. The corners of the lantern correspond to the sides of the octagon.
This part of the room is crowned with a wooden star vault (completed in 1335). It hangs at a height of 43 meters. There, seven ribs rise from each fighter , while five of the warriors of the large octagon go to the vault caps and six to the transverse ribs.
This crossing vault is illuminated by all-round windows above a series of blind arches . The unusual structure could only be built from wood. This complex, unique in all of Gothic architecture, was completed in 1342 (under the direction of the sacristan Alan of Walsingham). Large tracery windows have been installed in the upper diagonal areas. Nikolaus Pevsner believes that the clear dividing lines between central nave, side aisles, transept and choir, such as the floor plan and structure of the high Gothic cathedral were based on, were revealed. The current external structure of the "Octagon" is modern.
The Lady Chapel
The Lady Chapel (i.e. Liebfrauenkapelle ) is unlike most English cathedrals, a separate building parallel to the choir on the east corner of the north transept. Particularly large with a length of 30 m and a width of 14 m. The single-nave rectangular room of five bays has the widest flat stone vault in England. It was probably built between 1321 and 1349 under the direction of Brother John Wysbeck. The inner walls are structured by blinds with trimmed keel arches ; in the spandrels in between there are figures; numerous surfaces are covered with a rampant foliage decoration ("one of the richest and most elegant rooms in all of Gothic").
The western crossing
Around 1380 the pillars of the western crossing were reinforced. This separated the western vestibule even more from the nave. While the lower storeys of the western transept still have Romanesque round arches, the ornamentation of the tower is completely Gothic, although it has a closed structure, like Romanesque towers. Like the entire facade (= west wall of the transept) it is completely structured with niches and other openings, interspersed with pointed arch lancets. This motif, originally only used in the interior for wall design, has been transferred here to the exterior. The entire construction period of the west tower extends from approx. 1200 to 1400. The former crenellated pointed helmet was dismantled in 1757. The lower part of the facade shows the famous English waffle pattern (diaper work).
The outside view
In the case of the English cathedrals, a fundamentally different picture emerges from a distance than on the mainland. Often these buildings stand in the open and not in the middle of a city. The builders had plenty of space and the viewer can clearly perceive them as a structural unit. There is a co-operation between the calm and elongated long houses and choirs on the one hand and the richly designed tower groups in the west and above the crossing on the other. Ely has already been described as the “greatest Romanesque achievement” , which ignores the fact that most of the details on this building belong more to the Gothic language of form.
Cathedral music
Ely owns a well-known church choir for boys and men that has recently gained international acclaim for its collaboration with the Choirboys: two of its members, Patrick Aspbury and CJ Porter-Thaw, are cathedral choirs. The boys are educated in the junior section of the "King's School" of Ely.
Some time ago the parish began to build up an adult choir, the “Octagon Singers” and, in parallel, a boys' choir, the “Ely Imps”. And in 2006 the “Ely Cathedral Girls' Choir” was added.
organ
The organ goes back to an instrument that was built in 1831 by the organ builders Elliot and Hill. The organ case was only created in 1850. In 1908 the organ builders Harrison and Harrison made the instrument a new instrument , reusing pipe material from the previous organ . The organ has been restored several times. In the course of the building restoration in the years 1999–2000, the organ was expanded and extensively restored and expanded by the organ building company Harrison and Harrison. The instrument has 80 stops on four manuals and a pedal . The actions are electro-pneumatic.
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Ely in popular culture
- The cathedral appears on the cover of the Pink Floyd album name The Division Bell by 1994 . In the video for the song High Hopes from the same album, the cathedral plays an important role as a fixed point.
- A number of the recordings of choral music under John Rutter show Ely Cathedral on the cover as a reference to the fact that early recordings of his music were made here at the Lady Chapel.
- Ely also appears in the children's book Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce.
- Some passages of the film The Golden Age , the follow-up film to Elizabeth , were shot here in June 2006, with the stars Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen , directed by Shekhar Kapur .
literature
- James H. Acland: Medieval Structure. The Gothic Vault . Univ. of Toronto Press, Toronto 1972, ISBN 0-8020-1886-6 .
- Ernst Adam: Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque . Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1968, ( Epochs of Architecture ), ( Ein Umschau-Bildsachbuch ), pp. 115, 119.
- Issam Eldin Abdou Badr: From the vault to the spatial structure . Akeret, Dielsdorf 1962, (also: Zurich, Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 1962).
- Henning Bock : The Decorated Style. Investigations into the English cathedral architecture of the first half of the 14th century . Winter, Heidelberg 1962, ( Heidelberger Kunstgeschichtliche Abhandlungen NF 6, ISSN 0438-9093 ).
- Harry Batsford, Charles Fry: The Cathedrals of England , 7th Edition, BT Batsford Ltd., London 1948.
- Bernard E. Dorman: The story of Ely and its Cathedral. 3. revised Edition (1st edition 1945); Mason, Emmines, & Hodges; Ely 1977.
- Marcel Durliat : Romanesque Art . Herder, Freiburg et al. 1983, ISBN 3-451-19402-3 , ( Ars antiqua Ser. 3), p. 498, fig. 958, color plate 34.
- Alain Erlande-Brandenburg : Gothic Art . Herder, Freiburg et al. 1984, ISBN 3-451-19403-1 , ( Ars antiqua Ser. 3, 3), p. 567, color plate 30.
- Franz Hart : Art and technology of the vault . Callwey, Munich 1965.
- Martin Hürlimann : English cathedrals . Atlantis Verlag, Zurich 1948, pp. 18–45.
- Nikolaus Pevsner : European architecture from the beginning to the present . 3rd edition of the study edition. Prestel, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-7913-0137-3 .
- Werner Schäfke : English cathedrals. A journey through the highlights of English architecture from 1066 to the present day . DuMont, Cologne 1983, ISBN 3-7701-1313-6 , ( DuMont art travel guide ), ( DuMont documents ), pp. 81–87, fig. 16–18, color plate 2, 22.
- Wim Swaan: The great cathedrals . DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1969, p. 210, figs. 244–249.
- Rolf Toman (ed.): The art of the Romanesque. Architecture - sculpture - painting . Könemann, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-89508-213-9 , p. 228.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Batsford / Fry (1948), p. 33
- ↑ a b Schäfke (1983), p. 84
- ^ Adam (1968), p. 115
- ↑ Schäfke (1983), p. 87
- ↑ Schäfke (1983), p. 85
- ↑ a b Hürlimann (1948), p. 18
- ^ Adam (1968), p. 119
- ↑ For complete information about organ (English)
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 23 ′ 55 " N , 0 ° 15 ′ 48" E