So what is your favourite cathedral?

[salymap]

Morning Doversoul, in some ways I'm glad that I can't get to Canterbury then. I didn't realise Cathedrals now charged people for looking round.

The history of the place is palpable and I'm glad I knew the area long ago.

[Anna]

doversoul, if you Gift Aid your entry fee to Canterbury that gives you free admission for a further 12 months. It is a major tourist attraction and costs a fortune to maintain but £9 seems a bit steep. Most Cathedrals charge now, usually around £4-£5. I think Durham is still free.

[moeranbiogman]

Rochester. A peaceful island amid the Medway hubbub...

[doversoul1]

Anna
Thank you for the information on Gift Aid. I’ll certainly look into it. As you say, the cost of maintenance must be huge and I don’t object to paying to go inside the actual building. But what upset me when they started charging was the fact that you couldn’t even walk into the ground without paying. It has (had) a homely little garden at the back.

[Serial_Apologist]

I once had the chance to sing in the choir at Guildford Cathedral, soon after its completion in the early 1960s. It is built in a neo-Gothic style - architecturally a sort of equivalent of the relationship between Herbert Howells's music and that of William Byrd. For singing Tallis Responses the echo is in my albeit limited experience unequalled, except maybe in the Taj Mahal!

Durham seems a popular choice on here, but I have to say I find all that macho Norman gigantism there pretty cold and daunting. Canterbury Cathedral too seems somehow overwhelming; one has to make several ascents from the West Wing entry point (only used for ceremonial occasions I believe) to the high alter and area behind, and not all the length of the interior is visible up the chancelry. St Andrews has been mentioned quickly in passing, and I strongly recommend a visit if you are in that part of... sheep land. The surrealism of being in the smallest city in the country is striking; but the building is in fact quite small for a cathedral - possibly smaller than one of the larger Perpendicular churches in Suffolk like Long Melford or Lavenham. The stone from which it is built makes for a lovely pink glow inside, especially enhanced by the sun shining through: I can't recall if there is any stained glass there.

For stained glass I don't think anything quite surpasses Notre Dame - not that I have ever visited any other of France's cathedrals - my parents swore (sic) by Rheims - but the modern windows in Canterbury are pretty fantastic. I just love the effect of light pouring through coloured panes. I can stand staring at traffic lights forever!!!

Its funny how different buildings carry their own special 'vibe'. I was not surprised, on asking the guide, to be informed that Ightham (sp?) Moat in Kent is haunted. There are stories of headless monks etc connected with Wells, but I doubt these, as I have always found the place somehow warm and enfolding in a strange but nice way. One could almost be led to believe in God, while in there...

S-A

[Anna]

doversoul, I just got the info from the Cathedral website. "UK tax payers may ‘Gift Aid’ their entrance fee which means that we can claim back 25% income tax. Your Gift Aid till ticket will then allow you free entry for 12 months. If you are not a UK tax payer, you can still enjoy 12 months free entry. Ask staff at the entrance gate for an ‘Annual Ticket’ form"

I assume this may also apply to other Cathedrals and worth checking out if anyone likes to pop in on a regular basis to their local one, as I used to when I worked round the corner from Hereford Cathedral.

[DracoM]

In UK, Durham for me too.
In Europe - Burgos and a distant second Poitiers.
Elsewhere: the amazing Oscar Niemayr cathedral in Brasilia and the cathedral in Rio de Janeiro

[Panjandrum]

Orvieto takes some beating with its liquorice all-sort stone facing.

[Serial_Apologist]

Keep all them guides you buy when you visit these wonderful places. Then you can go back at your leisure without spending any money or adding to you carbon footprint. I have a drawer full!

[Chris Newman]

For its amazing stained glass I would go for Chartres. For the clarity of light Nantes and Salisbury (the former lost its windows in the dreadful fire, I think in the 1970s) and I am biased with Salisbury as it is a five minute walk away, visible from all directions, appears to still be standing in the fields from the west and I can see the tip of the spire from a bedroom window.

[Serial_Apologist]

For its amazing stained glass I would go for Chartres. For the clarity of light Nantes and Salisbury (the former lost its windows in the dreadful fire, I think in the 1970s) and I am biased with Salisbury as it is a five minute walk away, visible from all directions, appears to still be standing in the fields from the west and I can see the tip of the spire from a bedroom window.

You lucky fellow, you!

[vinteuil]

In Europe - Burgos and a distant second Poitiers.

I think in Poitiers it is rather the church of Notre-Dame-la Grande, with its marvellous romanesque front - or possibly the church of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand - rather than the rather ordinary cathedral Saint-Pierre - which merits attention...

But in France I wd give preference to Chartres - Albi - Amiens - Laon - Reims - Strasbourg - Beauvais...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

St Asaph. Such a great venue to perform in.

[mercia]

Beauvais

is Beauvais as breathtaking as one might imagine?

[vinteuil]

is Beauvais as breathtaking as one might imagine?

I like Beauvais a lot. It is of course just a fragment - most of it fell down - so what is left is a tiny bit, which make it seem all the more impossibly tall...

To my earlier list I shd have also of course added Bourges - Rouen - Notre-Dame-de-Paris...

Can't really understand why Chris: Newman is so taken by Nantes - a very ordinary building, in an otherwise lovely town....