GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE (12TH-18TH CENTURY)

FRANCE, ITALY, ENGLAND

EARLY RENAISSANCE (15TH CENTURY)

ITALY
HIGH RENAISSANCE (16TH CENTURY)
ITALY
BAROQUE AND ROCOCCO (17TH-18TH CENTURY)
ITALY
NEO CLASSICAL (16TH-18TH CENTURY)
FRANCE, ENGLAND
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE (12TH-18TH CENTURY)
FRANCE, ITALY, ENGLAND
Gothic architecture is a style of
architecture that flourished during the
high and late medieval period. It
evolved from Romanesque architec-
ture and was succeeded by Renaiss-
ance architecture.
Originating in 12th century France and
lasting into the 16th century, Gothic
architecture was known during the
period as "the French Style," (Opus
Francigenum),with the term
Gothic first appearing during the
latter part of the Renaissance. Its
characteristic features include the po-
inted arch, the ribbed vault and
the flying buttress.
Gothic architecture is most familiar as
the architecture of many of the gre-
at cathedrals, abbeys and churches of
Europe.It is also the architecture of
many castles, palaces, town halls,
guild halls, universities and to a less
prominent extent, private dwellings.
It is in the great churches and
cathedrals and in a number of civic
buildings that the Gothic style was
expressed most powerfully, its
characteristics lending themselves to
appeal to the emotions. For this reason
a study of Gothic architecture is
largely a study of cathedrals and
churches.
Gothic architecture was classified into several substyles
from the early ninet-eenth century.

Backsteingotik :The brick architecture of North Germany and the lands arou-
nd the Baltic.

Decorated English architecture between 1250-1350, using tracery, much scul-

ptured ornament, and, in its later phase, the ogee arch.

Early Gothic :Architecture in the Ile-de-France (1130-1190). The initial phase

of Gothic Architecture.

Early English :Architecture in Britain between 1170-1250, using rib vaults,

pointed arches, and copious architectural ornament, particularly shaft work.
Also, can be austere or highly ornamented.

Flamboyant :Last phase of French Gothic, from the 15th century,using ogees in
flame- like tracery patterns, and thin, faceted mouldings.
High Gothic :The so-called classic phase in France, including Chartres,
Reims, and Ameins Cathedrals: tall, thin structures, with long clerestories and
flying buttresses.
Hispano-Flemish :Highly decorative style from the reign of Isabella of
Castile (1474-1504), combining Netherlandish and local Islamic inspired
Mudejar forms.

Late Gothic :Architecture after 1350, but essentially applicable to the empire,
characterized by variety in pier forms, tracery, and vault patterns; exemplified
in hall churches.

Manueline :Architecture in Portugal associated with Manuel I (1495-1521),

highly sculptured, with many marine motifs celebrating Portugal’s maritime
discoveries.

Perpendicular :Enlish architecture from the late 14th century, characterized by

rectilinear surface panelling, flattish, four-centred arches, and multi-ribbed or
fan vaulting.
Transitional Style :Around 1200 that seem to combine Romanesque and
Gothic forms, and interpreted as evolving from one to other. Term used
especially for buildings in the Empire and Britain.
Rayonnant :French architecture from 1230, after the invention of window
tracery : light, moulded, with mural passages and much surface decoration.

Reduktionsgotik :’Reduced Gothic’ describes the preaching churches built in

the Empire by the medicant orders, with plain, simple structure and little
ornament.
GOTHIC CATHEDRAL
REIMS CATHEDRAL
Notre-Dame de Reims (Our
Lady of Rheims) is the Roman
Catholic cathedral of Reims,
where the kings of France
were once crowned. It
replaces an older church,
destroyed by a fire in 1211,
which was built on the site of
the basilica where Clovis was
baptized by Saint Remi,
bishop of Reims, in AD 496.
That original structure had
been erected on the site of
the Roman baths. As the
cathedral it remains the seat
of the Archdiocese of Reims.
 Fire took place in cathedral,
1211

France, Reims and its cathedral, 1916

 EXTERIOR FACADE OF THE
CATHEDRAL
The three portals are laden with
statues and statuettes; among
European cathedrals, only Char-
tres has more sculpted figures.
The central portal, dedicated to
the Virgin Mary, is surmounted
by a rose window framed in an
arch itself decorated with statu-
ary, in place of the usual
sculptured tympanum. The "gall-
ery of the kings" above shows the
baptism of Clovis in the centre
flanked by statues of his
successors.
The facades of the transepts are
also decorated with sculptures..
South flank, Reims cathedral
That on the North has statues of bishops of
Reims, a representation of the Last Judg-
ment and a figure of Jesus (le Beau Dieu),
while that on the south side has a beautiful
modern rose window with the prophets
and apostles. Fire destroyed the roof and the
spires in 1481: of the four towers that flanked
the transepts, nothing remains above the height
of the roof. Above the choir rises an elegant
lead-covered timber belltower that is 18 m
(about 59 feet) tall, reconstructed in the 15th
century and in the 1920s
INTERIOR FACADE OF THE
CATHEDRAL
The inside of cathedral is 138.75 m
(about 455 ft) long, 30 m (approx. 98
feet) wide in the nave, and 38 m (about
125 feet) high in the centre. It
comprises a nave with aisles, transepts
with aisles, a choir with double aisles,
and an apse with ambulatory and rad-
iating chapels. It has interesting
stained glass ranging from the 13th to
the 20th century. The rose window
over the main portal and the gallery
beneath are of rare magnificence.
The cathedral possessed fine tapes-
tries. Of these the most important
series is that presented by Robert de
Lenoncourt ,archbishop under Franc-
ois-I, representing the life of the
Virgin. They are now to be seen in the
former bishop's palace, the Palace of
Tau. The north transept contains a fine
organ in a flamboyant Gothic case. The
choir clock is ornamented with curious
mechanical figures. Marc Chagall
desi-gned the stained glass installed in
1974 in the axis of the apse.
The treasury, kept in the Palace of Tau,
includes many precious objects, among
which is the Sainte Ampoule, or holy
flask, the successor of the ancient one
that contained the oil with which
French kings were anointed, which was
broken during the French Revolution, a
fragment of which the present
Ampoule contains.
CHARTERS CATHEDRAL
The French medieval Cathedral of
Our Lady of Chartres (French:
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres)
is a Latin Rite Catholic cathedral
located in Chartres, about 80 km
southwest of Paris, is considered one
of the finest examples of the French
High Gothic style. The current
cathedral, mostly constructed between
1193 and 1250, is one of at least five
which have occupied the site since the
town became a bishopric in the 4th
century.
What makes the cathedral special from
an artistic viewpoint is its exceptional
state of preservation. The majority of
the original stained glass windows
survive intact, while the architecture
has seen only minor changes since the
early 13th century.
The building's exterior is
dominated by heavy flying
buttresses which allowed the
architects to increase the window
size significantly, while the west
end is dominated by two
contrasting spires —one, a 105m
(349 ft) plain pyramid dating from
the 1140s, and the other a 113 m
(377 ft) tall early 16th century
Flamboyant spire on top of an older
tower. Equally notable are the three
great facades, each adorned with
hundreds of sculpted figures
illustrating key theological themes
and narratives.
As with any medieval bishopric,
Chartres Cathedral was the most
important building in the town - the
centre of its economy, its most famous
landmark and the focal point of many
activities that in modern towns are
provided for by specialised civic
buildings. In the Middle Ages, the
cathedral functioned as a kind of
marketplace, with different commer-
cial activities centred around the
different portals, particularly during
the regular fairs.
Statistics
Length: 130 metres (430 ft)
Width: 32 metres (105 ft) / 46 metres
(151 ft)
Nave: height 37 metres (121 ft);
width 16.4 metres (54 ft)
Ground area: 10,875 square metres
(117,060 sq ft)
Height of south-west tower: 105
metres (344 ft)
Height of north-west tower: 113
metres (371 ft)
176 stained-glass windows
Choir enclosure: 200 statues in 41
scenes
PLAN AND ELEVATION
The plan is cruciform. A
two bay narthex at the
western end opens into a
seven bay nave leading to
the crossing, from which
wide transepts extend three
bays each to north and
south. East of the crossing
are four rectangular bays
terminating in a semi-
circular apse. The nave and
transepts are flanked by
single aisles, broadening to
a double-aisled ambulatory
around the choir and apse.
From the ambulatory radiate three deep semi-circular chapels (overlying the deep
chapels of Fulbert's 11th-century crypt) and four much shallower ones. Of the latter,
one was effectively lost in the 1320s when the Chapel of St Piat was built.
The elevation of the nave is three-storied, with arcade, triforium and clerestory
levels. By eschewing the gallery level that featured in many early Gothic cathedrals
(normally between arcade and triforium), the designers were able to make the richly
glazed arcade and clerestory levels larger and almost equal in height, with just a
narrow dark triforium in between. Although not the first example of this three-part
elevation, Chartres was perhaps the first of the great churches to make a success of
it and to use the same design consistently throughout. The result was a far greater
area of window openings. These windows were entirely glazed with densely colored
glass, which resulted in a relatively dark interior - but one which accentuated the
richness of the glass and the colored light that filtered through them.
Increasing the size of the windows meant reducing the wall area considerably,
something which was made possible only by the extensive use of flying buttresses
on the outside. These buttresses supported the considerable lateral thrusts resulting
from the 34m high stone vaults, higher and wider than any attempted before in
France. These vaults were quadripartite, each bay split into four webs by two
diagonally crossing ribs, unlike the sexpartite vaults adopted in many earlier Gothic
cathedrals such as at Laon.
Another architectural breakthrough at Chartres was a resolution to the
problem of how to arrange attached columns or shafts around a pier in a way
that worked aesthetically - but which also satisfied the desire for structural
logic that characterised French high gothic. The nave at Chartres features
alternating round and octagonal solid cored piers, each of which has four
attached half-columns at the cardinal points, two of these (on the east-west
axis) support the arches of the arcade, one acts as the springing for the aisle
vault and one supports the cluster of shafts that rise through the triforium and
clerestory to support the high-vault ribs. This pier design, known as pilier
cantonné was to prove highly influential and subsequently featured in a
number of other high gothic churches.
Although the sculpture on the portals at Chartres is generally of a high
standard, the various carved elements inside, such as the capitals and string
courses, are relatively poorly finished (when compared for example with
those at Reims or Soissons) - the reason is simply that the portals were
carved from the finest Parisian limestone, or ' 'calcaire' ', while the internal
capitals were carved from the local Berchere stone that is hard to work and
can be brittle.
WINDOWS
The most distinctive feature of Chartres
Cathedral is the extent to which archite-ctural
structure has been adapted to meet the needs of
stained glass. The use of a three-part elevation
with external buttress-ing allowed for far larger
windows than earlier designs, particularly at the
clerestory level. Most cathedrals of the period
had a mixture of windows containing plain
or grisaille glass and windows containing dense
stained glass panels, with the result that the
brightness of the former tended to diminish the
impact and legibility of the latter. At Chartres,
nearly all of the 176 windows were filled with
equally dense stained glass, creating a relatively
dark but richly coloured interior in which the
light filtering through the myriad narrative and
symbolic windows was the main source of
illumination.
NOTRE DAME

Notre Dame Cathedral from Seine River.

Notre Dame de Paris: Western Façade
Notre Dame de Paris , French
for Our Lady of Paris), also known
as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a
Gothic, Catholic cathedral of
Paris, France. It is the cathedral of
the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris:
that is, it is the church that
contains the cathedra (official
chair) of the Archbishop of Paris.
The cathedral treasury houses a
reliquary with the purported
Crown of Thorns.
Notre Dame de Paris is widely
considered one of the finest
examples of French Gothic
architecture in France and in
Europe, and the naturalism of its
sculptures and stained glass are in
contrast with earlier Romanesque
architecture.
The Back of Notre Dame de Paris
ARCHITECTURE
Notre Dame de Paris was among
the first buildings in the world to
use the flying buttress (arched
exterior supports). The building
was not originally designed to
include the flying buttresses
around the choir and nave. After
the construction began and the
thinner walls (popularized in the
Gothic style) grew ever higher,
stress fractures began to occur as
the walls pushed outward. In
response, the cathedral's architects
built supports around the outside
walls, and later additions
continued the pattern. The
cathedral was essentially complete
by 1345.
Flying Buttress
of Notre Dame,
Paris.
MILAN CATHEDRAL
Duomo di Milano from the Square.
Milan Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di The famous "Madonnina" atop the main spire
of the cathedral, a baroque gilded bronze statue
Milano) is the cathedral church
of Milan , Italy. Dedicated to Santa
Maria Nascente (Saint Mary Nascent),
it is the seat of the Archbishop of
Milan.
The Gothic cathedral took nearly six
centuries to complete. It is the fourth
largest cathedral in the world and the
largest in Italy.

ARCHITECTURE & ART

The plan consists of a nave with four
side-aisles, crossed by a transept and
then followed by choir and apse. The
height of the nave is about 45 meters,
the highest Gothic vaults of a
complete church (less than the 48
meters of Beauvais Cathedral, which
was never completed).
Interior view of the Duomo di Milano
The roof is open to tourists (for a fee),
which allows many a close-up view of
some spectacular sculpture that would
otherwise be unappreciated. The roof of
the cathedral is renowned for the forest of
openwork pinnacles and spires, set upon
delicate flying buttresses.
The cathedral's five broad naves, divided
by 40 pillars, are reflected in the
hierarchic openings of the façade. Even
the transepts have aisles. The nave Plate celebrating the laying of the first
columns are 24.5 metres (80 ft) high, and stone in 1386.
the apsidal windows are 20.7 x 8.5 metres
(68 x 28 feet). The huge building is of
brick construction, faced with marble
from the quarries which Gian Galeazzo
Visconti donated in perpetuity to the
cathedral chapter. Its maintenance and
repairs are very complicated.
FLORENCE CATHEDRAL
The Basilica di Santa Maria del
Fiore (English: Basilica of Saint Mary of
the Flower) is the cathedral church of
Florence, Italy. The Duomo, as it is
ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in
the Gothic style and completed
structurally in 1436 with the dome
engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The
exterior of the basilica is faced with
polychrome marble panels in various
shades of green and pink bordered by
white and has an elaborate 19th
century Gothic Revival façade.,
The basilica is one of Italy's largest
churches, and until development of new
structural materials in the modern era, the
dome was the largest in the world. It
remains the largest brick dome ever
constructed.
PLAN AND STRUCTURE

The cathedral of Florence is built as a basilica, having a wide central

nave of four square bays, with an aisle on either side. The chancel
and transepts are of identical polygonal plan, separated by two
smaller polygonal chapels. The whole plan forms a Latin cross. The
nave and aisles are separated by wide pointed Gothic arches resting
on composite piers.
The dimensions of the building are enormous: length 153 metres
(502 ft), width 38 metres (124 ft), width at the crossing 90 metres
(295 ft). The height of the arches in the aisles is 23 metres (75 ft).
The height from pavement to the opening of the lantern in the dome
is also 90 metres (295 ft).
DOME
By the beginning of the fifteenth
century, after a hundred years of
construction, the structure was still
missing its dome. The basic features
of the dome had been designed by
Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296. His brick
model, 4.6 metres (15 ft) high 9.2
metres (30 ft) long, was standing in a
side aisle of the unfinished building,
and had long ago become
sacrosanct. It called for an octagonal
dome higher and wider than any that
had ever been built, with no external
buttresses to keep it from spreading
and falling under its own weight.
The commitment to reject traditional
Gothic buttresses had been made when
Neri di Fioravante's model was chosen
over a competing one by Giovanni di Lapo
Ghini.That architectural choice, in 1367,
was one of the first events of the Italian
Renaissance, marking a break with
the Medieval Gothic style and a return to
the classic Mediterranean dome. Italian
architects regarded Gothic flying buttresses
as ugly makeshifts and since the use of
buttresses was forbidden in Florence, in
addition to being a style favored by central
Italy's traditional enemies to the north.
Neri's model depicted a massive inner
dome, open at the top to admit light, like
Rome's Pantheon but enclosed in a thinner
outer shell, partly supported by the inner
dome, to keep out the weather. It was to
stand on an unbuttressed octagonal drum.
Neri's dome would need an internal defense
against spreading (hoop stress), but none
had yet been designed
The building of such a masonry dome posed many technical problems.
Brunelleschi looked to the great dome of the Pantheon in Rome for solutions.
The dome of the Pantheon is a single shell of concrete, the formula for which
had long since been forgotten. A wooden form had held the Pantheon dome
aloft while its concrete set, but for the height and breadth of the dome
designed by Neri, starting 52 metres (171 ft) above the floor and spanning 44
metres (144 ft), there was not enough timber in Tuscany to build the
scaffolding and forms. Brunelleschi chose to follow such design and
employed a double shell, made of sandstone and marble. Brunelleschi would
have to build the dome out of bricks, due to its light weight compared to
stone and easier to form, and with nothing under it during construction. To
illustrate his proposed structural plan, he constructed a wooden and brick
model with the help of Donatello and Nanni di Banco and still displayed in
the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. The model served as a guide for the
craftsmen, but was intentionally incomplete, so as to ensure Brunelleschi's
control over the construction.
Brunelleschi's solutions were ingenious. The spreading problem was solved
by a set of four internal horizontal stone and iron chains, serving as barrel
hoops, mbedded within the inner dome: one each at the top and bottom,
with the remaining two evenly spaced between them. A fifth chain, made of
wood, was placed between the first and second of the stone chains. Since the
dome was octagonal rather than round, a simple chain, squeezing the dome
like a barrel hoop, would have put all its pressure on the eight corners of the
dome. The chains needed to be rigid octagons, stiff enough to hold their
shape, so as not to deform the dome as they held it together. Each of
Brunelleschi's stone chains was built like an octagonal railroad track with
parallel rails and cross ties, all made of sandstone beams 43 centimetres
(17 in) in diameter and no more than 2.3 metres (7.5 ft) long. The rails were
connected end-to-end with lead-glazed iron splices. The cross ties and rails
were notched together and then covered with the bricks and mortar of the
inner dome. The cross ties of the bottom chain can be seen protruding from
the drum at the base of the dome. The others are hidden. Each stone chain
was supposed to be reinforced with a standard iron chain made of
interlocking links, but a magnetic survey conducted in the 1970s failed to
detect any evidence of iron chains, which if they exist are deeply embedded
in the thick masonry walls. He was also able to accomplish this by setting
vertical "ribs" on the corners of the octagon curving towards the center
point. The ribs had slits, where platforms could be erected out of and work
could progressively continue as they worked up,a system for scaffolding.
A circular masonry dome, such as that of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul can be
built without supports, called centering, because each course of bricks is a
horizontal arch that resists compression. In Florence, the octagonal inner
dome was thick enough for an imaginary circle to be embedded in it at each
level, a feature that would hold the dome up eventually, but could not hold
the bricks in place while the mortar was still wet. Brunelleschi used
a herringbone brick pattern to transfer the weight of the freshly laid bricks to
the nearest vertical ribs of the non-circular dome.
The outer dome was not thick enough to contain embedded horizontal
circles, being only 60 centimetres (2 ft) thick at the base and 30 centimetres
(1 ft) thick at the top. To create such circles, Brunelleschi thickened the outer
dome at the inside of its corners at nine different elevations, creating nine
masonry rings, which can be observed today from the space between the two
domes. To counteract hoop stress, the outer dome relies entirely on its
attachment to the inner dome at its base; it has no embedded chains
A modern understanding of physical laws and the mathematical tools for
calculating stresses was centuries into the future. Brunelleschi, like all
cathedral builders, had to rely on intuition and whatever he could learn from
the large scale models he built. To lift 37,000 tons of material, including over
4 million bricks, he invented hoisting machines and lewissons for hoisting
large stones. These specially designed machines and his structural
innovations were Brunelleschi's chief contribution to architecture. Although
he was executing an aesthetic plan made half a century earlier, it is his name,
rather than Neri's, that is commonly associated with the dome.
Brunelleschi's ability to crown the dome with a lantern was questioned and
he had to undergo another competition. He was declared the winner over his
competitors Lorenzo Ghiberti and Antonio Ciaccheri. His design was for an
octagonal lantern with eight radiating buttresses and eight high arched
windows (now on display in the Museum Opera del Duomo). Construction
of the lantern was begun a few months before his death in 1446. Then, for 15
years, little progress was possible, due to alterations by several architects.
The lantern was finally completed by Brunelleschi's friend Michelozzo in
1461. The conical roof was crowned with a gilt copper ball and cross,
containing holy relics, by Verrocchio in 1469. This brings the total height of
the dome and lantern to 114.5 metres (375 ft). This copper ball was struck by
lightning on 17 July 1600 and fell down. It was replaced by an even larger
one two years later.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at
Westminster, popularly known as
Westminster Abbey, is a large,
mainly Gothic church, in the City of
Westminster, London, United Kingdo-
m, located just to the west of the
Palace of Westminster. It is the traditi-
onal place of coronation and burial site
for English, later British and later still
(and currently) monarchs of the
Commonwealth realms. The abbey is a
Royal Peculiar and briefly held the
status of a cathedral from 1540 to
1550.

Westminster Abbey’s western façade.

Plan of Westminster Abbey
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
Salisbury Cathedral, formally known
as the Cathedral Church of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglic-
an cathedral in Salisbury, England,
considered one of the leading examp-
les of Early English architecture.The
main body was completed in only 38
years, from 1220 to 1258.
HISTORY
As a response to deteriorating relations
between the clergy and the military
at Old Sarum, the decision was taken
to resite the cathedral and the
bishopric was moved to its present
place in Salisbury.The move occurred
during the tenure of Bishop Richard
Poore, who was a wealthy man and
donated the new land for construction. The new cathedral was also paid for
by donations, principally by all the canons and vicars of the south-west, who
were asked to contribute a fixed annual sum until its completion. Legend
has it that the Bishop of Old Sarum shot an arrow in the direction he would
build the cathedral; the arrow hit a deer and the deer finally died in the place
where Salisbury Cathedral is now.
The foundation stone was laid on 28 April 1220. Much of the freestone for
the cathedral came from Teffont Evias quarries. Due to the high water table
in the new location, the cathedral was built on only four feet of foundations,
and by 1258 the nave, transepts and choir were complete. The west front
was ready by 1265. The cloisters and chapter house were completed around
1280. Because the cathedral was built in only 38 years, Salisbury Cathedral
has a single consistent architectural style, Early English Gothic.
The only major sections of the cathedral built later were
the Cloisters, Chapter house, tower and spire, which at 404 feet (123 m)
dominated the skyline from 1320. Whilst the spire is the cathedral's most
impressive feature, it has also proved to be troublesome. Together with the
tower, it added 6,397 tons (6,500 tonnes) to the weight of the building.
Without the addition of buttresses, bracing arches and iron ties over the
succeeding centuries, it would have
suffered the fate of spires on later
great ecclesiastical buildings (such
as Malmesbury Abbey) and fallen
down; instead, Salisbury remains
the tallest church spire in the UK. To
this day the large support-
ing pillars at the corners of the spire
are seen to bend inwards under the
stress. The addition of reinforcing tie
beams above the crossing, designed
by Christopher Wren in 1668,
arrested further deformation. The
beams were hidden by a false
ceiling, installed below the lantern
stage of the tower.

The Cathedral with spire added between

1285-1320
View from the south side South Cloister
Exterior Facade
Plan of Cathedral
THE WEST FRONT
The west front is composed of two
stair turrets at each extremity, with
two niched buttresses nearer the
centre line supporting the large
central triple window. The stair
turrets are topped with spirelets and
the central section is topped by a
gable which contains four lancet
windows topped by two round
quatrefoil windows surmou-nted by a
mandorla containing Christ in Majesty. At ground level there is a principal
door flanked by two smaller doors. The whole is highly decorated with
quatrefoil motifs, columns, trefoil motifs and bands of diapering. The west
front was almost certainly constructed at the same time as the cathedral. This
is apparent from the way in which the windows coincide with the interior
spaces. The entire façade is about 33 metres high and wide.
The front accommodates over 130 shallow niches of varying sizes, 73 of
these niches contains a statue. The line of niches extend round the turrets to
the north, south and east faces. There are 5 levels of niches (not including the
mandorla) which show, from the top, angels and archangels, Old
Testament patriarchs, apostles and evangelists, martyrs, doctors and
philosophers and, on the lower level, royalty, priests and worthy people
connected with the cathedral. The majority of the statues were placed during
the middle of the 19th century, however 7 are from the 14th century and
several have been installed within the last decade.
CHAPTER HOUSE AND MAGNA CARTA
The chapter house is notable for its octagonal shape, slender central pillar
and decorative medieval frieze. It was redecorated in 1855-9 by William
Burges. The frieze circles the interior, just above the stalls, and depicts
scenes and stories from the books of Genesis and Exodus, including Adam
and Eve, Noah, the Tower of Babel, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The
chapter house also displays the best-preserved of the four surviving original
copies of Magna Carta. This copy came to Salisbury because Elias of
Dereham, who was present at Runnymede in 1215, was given the task of
distributing some of the original copies. Later, Elias became a Canon of
Salisbury and supervised the construction of Salisbury Cathedral.
The cathedral has the tallest Gothic vaulting in the Chapter
church spire in the United Kingd- House, built in the mid 13th
om (123m/404 ft). Visitors can take century
the "Tower Tour" where the interior of
the hollow spire, with its ancient wood
scaffolding, can be viewed. The cathe-
dral also has the largest cloister and
the largest cathedral close in Britain
(80 acres (320,000 m2)). The Cathedral
contains the world's oldest worki-
ng clock (from AD 1386) and has the
best surviving of the four original
copies of Magna Carta (all four
original copies are in England )
.Although commonly known as
Salisbury Cathedral, the official name
is the Cathedral of Saint Mary. In
2008, the cathedral celebrated the
750th anniversary of its consecration
in 1258.
Font designed by William Pye and installed in 2008
Detail on Pulpit of St John the Baptist

The Bishops Throne in the Quire

The Medieval Clock, believed to be the oldest Looking inside the Spire
working clock in the world