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Saturday 8 February 2014

Cathedral

The Cathedral of Etchmiadzin was the first church building in Armenia, and considered the oldest cathedral in the world. The original church was built between 301 and 303 by Gregory the Illuminator.

Canterbury Cathedral was founded in 597 by Augustine of Canterbury, who had been sent to England as a missionary by Pope Gregory the Great. It serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Bishop Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092. He died two days before it was consecrated on May 9, 1092.

When Lincoln’s original cathedral was mostly destroyed by an earthquake in 1185, Henry II  believed it was a message from God warning the monarch that he should stop plundering the cathedral’s revenues. In a bid to save his soul, he appointed a simple French monk, Hugh of Avalon, as Lincoln’s bishop to rebuild the church and cleanse his debt of sin.

Lincoln Cathedral

Between 1307 and 1311 the central tower of Lincoln Cathedral was raised to its present height of 271 feet (83 m). With its spire, the tower reputedly reached a height of 525 feet (160 m) (which would have made it the world's tallest structure, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza, which had held the record for almost 4,000 years. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 238 years (1311–1549), when the central spire collapsed.

In the original architectural design, the French Cathedral of Chartes had six spires (It was eventually built with two spires).

Bishop Poore laid the first five stones for Salisbury Cathedral, the prime example of Gothic Cathedrals in Britain on April 28, 1220. There was  one each for himself, Archbishop Stephen Langton, Pope Honorius III, Earl William and Countess Ela of Salisbury.

Salisbury Cathedral was completed in 1258. Its dialless clock is probably the oldest existing mechanical contraption still working actively in Britain.

Salisbury Cathedral from the East. By Antony McCallum: Wikipedia

137 years after it is started, the Notre Dome cathedral in Paris was completed in 1300. Inspired by their Christian faith, manual laborers, princes, serfs, merchants and artists all worked together on this monument to God’s glory. Like all the other medieval  cathedrals it looked truly brilliant. Its walls were decorated with frescoes and colorful statues of saints and angels. Today sadly all we see is the color of the local stone.

The lead-encased wooden spire of Lincoln Cathedral in England was completed in 1311, making it the tallest structure in the world, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza.  It held the record until 1439 when the minister of Strasbourg in France was completed.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii was dedicated on August 15, 1843. Now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, it is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.

Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace

St. Paul's Cathedral was completed in 1847 after Bishop of Calcutta laid the foundation in 1839. It was the first Episcopal Church of Asia and also the first cathedral that was built in the overseas territory of the British Empire.

The Cologne Cathedral is the largest cathedral in northern Europe. Built in the Gothic style to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, the foundation stone was laid on August 15, 1248 on the site of an older church. The nave and two spires—each of which is 515 ft high—were included in the original plans but built later, between 1842 and 1880. For the next four years after the cathedral's completion, it was the tallest structure in the world.

Up to 1884 and the construction of the Washington monument, a succession of churches held the title of world's tallest building.

The great Gothic cathedral of Milan was started in 1386, and wasn't completed until 1805.

Work on The Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore was completed in 1821. It is the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the Unites States.

America's first Cardinal, John McCloskey, dedicated the just-completed St. Patrick's Cathedral on May 25, 1879 in midtown Manhattan. After more than 20 years of construction, the gothic revival masterpiece becomes the centerpiece for Catholics in the United States

Architect Giles Gilbert Scott won the open design competition to build a 20th-century cathedral for Liverpool in 1903 when he was 22 years old. He designed every aspect of the building, down to the fine details, which was finished in 1978, 18 years after his death. The total external length of the cathedral is 207 yards (189 m) making it the longest cathedral in the world.

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral, located in Stanley, Falkland Islands, is the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world. Designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield and consecrated in 1892, special services are held at the cathedral throughout the year.

Winchester Cathedral was built on marsh and in 1905 experts discovered that parts were under serious threat of collapse as it sunk into the earth. A diver named William Walker worked tirelessly alone from 1906 until 1911 in pitch-black water, eventually putting down 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks, and 900,000 bricks to save its foundation.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary is located 800 feet down a Columbian salt mine. It is built entirely of salt and can seat 5,000 worshippers.

York Minster has the largest medieval stained glass window in Great Britain..

The Gothic-style Washington National Cathedral contains the remains of the only US president buried in Washington: Woodrow Wilson.

There’s a group called the “Extreme Cellists” who played on the roofs of all 42 Anglican Cathedrals in England within two weeks.

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