![]() In the basement are the remains of a fourth-century Christian baptistery, one of the earliest in existence. A ghoulish (1652) statue in the presbytery of Saint Bartholomew shows him flayed alive, his skin slung over his shoulder like a shawl. Four rows of 52 massive piers in yellowing Lake Maggiore marble loom over the nave and aisles. Like an overdressed model on a Milan catwalk, this cathedral is vulgar to some, glorious to others. The result is a chaotic hotchpotch of buttresses, pinnacles and a reputed 2,245 statues, part gothic, part classical. The facade had not yet been built when 17th-century fashion demanded a Renaissance style, but only its doors and windows were finished when Napoleon was crowned king of Italy in 1805. To some, Milan is vulgar, to others glorious, like an overdressed manikin on a Milan catwalk The interior of the cathedral was built in the 14th century by French masons for Milan’s ruling Visconti and then Sforza families, intended to outshine Saint Peter’s in Rome. The west front blazes across the city’s central piazza as backdrop to every Milanese event. At first sight it is a fizzing tableau of white stone. Photograph: Gennaro Leonardi/Getty Images When Henry VIII’s commissioners arrived to destroy it and opened the coffin, they were horrified at the sight of Cuthbert “lying whole with his face bare and his beard as if it had a fortnight’s growth”. The cathedral’s eastward extension was built to house the supposedly “undecayed” corpse of Saxon Saint Cuthbert. Delicate arches on spindly piers line up in rows, guarding the tomb of the Venerable Bede. A delightful contrast in Romanesque style is offered by the Galilee Chapel, jutting out from the west wall towards the cliff edge. A fugitive who grasped it was allowed 37 days of safety inside, to make peace with his enemies or escape.ĭurham’s Norman nave is titanic, an avenue of towering trunks, alternately circular and shafted, their piers incised with diapers, spirals and chevrons. Stylistically the exterior is confusing, since much of what we now see is later perpendicular gothic, but the walls and the ancient sanctuary door knocker survive. The casket reliquary is of gold and set with 1,000 precious stones. Inside, the greatest treasure is a casket of the supposed skulls of the Three Kings, donated by Holy Roman emperor Barbarossa. The cathedral survived 18 direct hits by British and American bombs in the second world war. It was not resumed until it served as a symbol of Prussian imperialism under Bismarck.Īrchitects luckily discovered 14th-century designs for the towers, which became the tallest manmade structure in the world until overtaken in 1884 by the Washington Monument. Work on the cathedral followed a familiar path, starting at the east end and working west, but ground to a halt in the 16th century. The present cathedral was begun in 1248 in a self-consciously French style, the choir exterior a pack of flying buttresses. ![]() Its buried baptistery has been dated to the seventh century, its walls still visible in the basement car park. The towers are like waterfalls of black masonry.Ĭologne was a site of Roman Christian worship. The west front was not completed until the 19th century and much of the exterior is thus neo-gothic. The grim towers of Germany’s most magnificent cathedral rise across the North Rhine plain like warnings of impending doom.
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