118 Lincoln UK, Lincoln Cathedral : where shall I have my entrails buried ?

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118 Lincoln UK, Lincoln Cathedral : where shall I have my entrails buried ?

It feels like Lincoln cathedral is nowhere near as well-known as is York Minster, and I am told that this is because Lincoln is not on the way to anywhere. In any case the cathedral is spectacular and not to be missed (And thanks to Terry for driving us out there).

Apparently John Ruskin reckoned: "that the cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have."

The guided tour was worth every penny.

 

Naturally, the architecture (all started in the 11th century) is what people are most impressed by (especially magical square towers, ceiling vaults and rose windows), but there are a number of other elements I loved. I have seen one whole bunch of sets of Stations of the Cross, but this is the most original (and rather modernist)  set I have ever seen. Now, the stories of the Stations of the Cross are vernacular tradition and only eight of them are actually mentioned in the Gospel, but this artist goes further and adds interpretation. To the traditional « Jesus falls the first time, Jesus falls the second time » we have an elaboration : « He falls under pressure from without » « He falls a second time, under pressure from within ». Jesus is represented as an allegory of truth, under threat in a truthless world etc. Pretty daring, liturgically speaking. And of course this speaks to your whole thing, which I have already mentioned, about modern art and the Church. On the one hand, believers and clergy are often keen that the Christian message be communicated in modern ways which might be more effective than the dusty ; on the other, modern art has in its DNA an anti-authoritarian, somewhat anarchist sprit involving a love for disorder and fragmentation, which might be seen as not really kosher for Christians, if you get my meaning.

In other highlights, gory stories : one of the tombs was for the entrails (and escutcheoned heart !) of some aristocrat (Queen Eleanor of Castile) whose skeleton is elsewhere, and someone else’s tomb has just the head. This was quite the trend at one time.

There is also a memorial to Joseph Banks, both a brilliant botanist and a hardline colonialist, who hung around with Captain Cook.

Tremendously pointy pulpit and stalls (some of them 14th century). Then there is a fascinating memorial to an incident of anti-Jewish hatred (little Hugh) which enthused Lincoln Christians for hundreds of years – great to remember here also then this horrible side of history.

The cathedral was used in the filming of the Da Vinci Code, and there is a statue of  the poet Tennyson in the churchyard.
































































































 

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