Llandaff Cathedral

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The west facade of the cathedral

The Cathedral of Llandaff ( English Llandaff Cathedral , Welsh Eglwys Gadeiriol Llandaf , actually Cathedral Church of SS Peter & Paul, Dyfrig, Teilo and Euddogwy ) is a church in Wales . It is the mother church and bishopric of the Llandaff Diocese of the Anglican Church in Wales . It is also the parish church for the parish of Llandaff. The cathedral dedicated to Peter and Paul , Dyfrig (English Dubricius ), Teilo and Euddogwy (English Oudoceus ) is located south of the River Taff in the old City of Llandaff , which is now a district of the Welsh capital Cardiff . Although it is lower than the old town of Llandaff due to its location on the riverside, it is the dominant building of the district. The church, classified as a Grade I cultural monument, is located in the middle of a Cathedral Green , the surrounding buildings include the Cathedral School , which was re-established in 1880, and the ruins of the medieval bishop's palace .

The cathedral around 1846 with the Italian Temple

Building history

Llandaff Cathedral is considered one of the oldest Christian sites in Britain . Around 560 Dyfrig is said to have founded a Christian community at the point where the old Roman road crosses the River Taff in a ford. His successor was Teilo , this was followed by his nephew Euddogwy. These three Celtic saints are patrons of the cathedral, which is why the cathedral's coat of arms has three mitres. The Celtic cross , which was rediscovered in the ruins of the bishop's palace in 1870 and has since been in the south aisle of the cathedral at the entrance to the chapter house , still dates from this early Christian period . The early medieval, albeit small, church was located on a small fortified hill that provided protection from attacks by pirates who drove up the River Taff from the Bristol Channel .

The construction of the current cathedral was started in 1120 by Bishop Urban , the first bishop appointed by the Norman conquerors . Urban planned the cathedral as the center of his diocese, which was soon named after Llandaff. He also extended the patronage of the cathedral to include that of Simon Peter to illustrate his ties to the Roman Church. From 1200 the cathedral was extended under Bishop Henry of Abergavenny so that it received a new west facade. The chapter house was built around 1250 to the south of the choir and until 1287, under Bishop William de Braose, the Lady Chapel was built in the east , which, in contrast to the rest of the cathedral, was largely preserved. A further expansion took place in the 14th century when the windows of the aisles were redesigned in the decorated style . Originally the cathedral had a free-standing bell tower, which was built around 1250 on the small hill in place of the early medieval church. Around 1485 the north tower of the cathedral was built, which is named after its builder Jasper Tudor Jasper Tower and serves as the new bell tower. The old bell tower, however, fell into disrepair. In the 15th century, the bishops moved their residence to Mathern near Chepstow . Until the Reformation under King Henry VIII , the cathedral was still a pilgrimage destination, which was mainly visited because of the grave of St. Teilo. Due to the ban on pilgrimages, however, the diocese lost its main source of income for the maintenance of the cathedral. The neglected cathedral fell into disrepair, only the Lady Chapel was still used for services. The Jasper Tower and the roof of the church were damaged during the great storm of 1703 , and the main nave became a roofless ruin. In 1722 the 12th century south-west tower collapsed.

The main nave from the south, the chapter house in the foreground

Restoration of the church did not begin until 1734, but first the architect John Wood the Elder wanted to build an Italian Temple in the classical style within the medieval ruins . Its construction destroyed other parts of the medieval church, but construction stopped in 1752 and was never completed. It was not until the 19th century that the diocese had the means to have the church restored in the neo-Gothic style from 1843 initially by Thomas Henry Wyatt , but later mainly by John Pritchard and John Pollard Seddon . During this restoration, the building was demolished by Wood, and in 1857 the choir and the nave were completed again. In 1869 the restoration of the cathedral was completed with the construction of the new southwest tower, the Pritchard Tower .

During the Second World War, the cathedral was badly damaged by German air raids on Cardiff. On January 2, 1941, an air mine hit the cathedral, which again became a ruin. From April 30, 1942, services could again be celebrated in the provisionally restored Lady Chapel. The external reconstruction was started under George Nicholson and was carried out from 1949 by George Pace , influenced by Le Corbusier , who carried out the reconstruction freely according to the historical model. In 1957 the reconstruction of the exterior was completed, the redesign of the interior by 1960. From 1985 to 1990 the church was renovated.

Building description

Exterior

The church, built as a transeptless basilica , is characterized by numerous architectural styles, from the western front to the straight eastern end of the Lady Chapel, the church is about 90 m long. While the medieval parts are built from dark quarry stone with limestone, parts of the walls built in the 19th century were built from Bath Stone and other stones, and during the reconstruction after the Second World War, concrete was also used, which was faced with sandstone. The roofs are covered with slate and lead. The gabled west facade in the Early English style is flanked by two different towers. The northwestern, perpendicular Jasper Tower is crowned at the corners by pinnacles from the 19th century, the southwest Victorian tower has a stone spire and is over 59 m high. The buttresses of the northwest tower were probably added in the 18th century after the southwest tower collapsed. Above the portal on the west facade there are three lancet windows , of which the middle one is raised, followed by a stepped arcade of round arches and a central window.

Despite the destruction and restoration, large parts of the lower walls of the nave and the chancel still come from the medieval building; the four western bays of the nave, which were added in the 13th century, are clearly visible. The top of the nave, however, dates from the 19th century. Since the reconstruction after the Second World War, the nave has passed directly into the choir.

The interior, looking east, with Epstein's Christ in Majesty

Interior

The oldest parts in the Norman style are the archway behind the high altar and the portal that leads from the north aisle into the St David (or Welsh Regiment) Chapel. The portal is probably the former west portal of the cathedral from the 12th century and was implemented in a later expansion around 1220. Much of the interior was destroyed during World War II. During the reconstruction, the ceiling of the main nave was redesigned with a wooden ceiling so that the three-aisled nave looks much more spacious today than it did before the destruction. The high altar was designed lower, a triptych designed by the Pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti was moved to the St Iltyd Chapel on the ground floor of the north-west tower. From the north aisle you can get to the Welsh Regiment Memorial Chapel , which was built in 1956 and has old regimental flags.

The choir is separated from the nave by a concrete arch, on which there is a cylinder with the sculpture Christ in Majesty made of aluminum by Sir Jacob Epstein . The stained glass windows were partially relocated during the Second World War, which is why windows designed by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones , among others , have been preserved in the choir . The east window of the Lady Chapel was designed by Geoffrey Webb in 1951. There are several grave monuments in the church, including those for Bishop Marshall, who died in 1496, and those for Bishops Alfred Ollivant and Richard Lewis from the late 19th and early 20th centuries .

The previous organ , built in 1900, was badly damaged in World War II and was provisionally restored by 1958. In 2007 the organ was so damaged by lightning strikes that it was replaced by a new one built by Nicholson by 2010 . The bells of the cathedral were re-cast in 1992, today the cathedral has a ring of 12 bells.

literature

Web links

Commons : Llandaff Cathedral  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rees R. Davies: The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063-1415. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-820198-2 , p. 182
  2. ^ British Listed Buildings: Ruins of the Old Bishop's Palace, Llandaff. Retrieved August 20, 2015 .
  3. ↑ John Newman; Stephen Hughes; Anthony Ward: Glamorgan Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan (Buildings of Wales). London, Penguin 1995. ISBN 0-14-071056-6 , p. 244
  4. ↑ Skyscrapernews.com: Llandaff Cathedral. Retrieved September 16, 2015 .
  5. ^ Stained Glass in Wales: Llandaff Cathedral, Llandaff, Cardiff, Glamorgan. Retrieved September 15, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Nicholson: Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff. Retrieved September 15, 2015 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 29 '43.1 "  N , 3 ° 12' 59.8"  W.