February 10, 2013

Treasures at Glasgow Cathedral . . .

At last we managed our overdue visit to the medieval Glasgow cathedral
St Mungo's, watched over by the Necropolis with its towering monuments
It was an overly dark day, all gloomy and rain grey,

 and little did we suspect the treasures tucked away inside!
Treasures like the crypt,  built mid-13th century
to house the tomb of the patron saint of Glasgow,
 Saint Mungo, who originally built his church on this site.
Wonderful Gothic features & carvings, green men & details galore,
Fragments of brightly painted stone found beneath the floor,
that once graced a door archway
 This perfect copy of the biography of St Kentigern,
by Jocelyn a monk from Furness Abbey, made in 1180.
I love the corrections in the margins of each page.
(original can be found in the Marsh library, Dublin)
The Blacadder crypt or aisle built 1483 -1508
quite awe inspiring to walk down into this beauty
 a sumptuous display, some of the finest carved bosses in Scotland.
Perfect examples of the work of medieval craftsmen.
 The Millennium window painted by Mr. John K. Clark
once a student & lecturer at Glasgow School of Art.
and of course I'm always drawn to colours and patterns
such as these wonderful tiles in the 15th C Sacristy
and the preserved old stained glass
A wee bit of a long post, but worth a share, it is after all
the only remaining medieval cathedral on mainland Scotland.
More information can be found here & here
and I have uploaded more images here.

16 comments:

  1. Beautiful... and I love how the gray and dreary day seems to compliment the imposing cathedral. Amazing details inside. I love how tile patterns are so clearly Scottish, whereas a slight difference in pattern and detail and they'd be Morrocan or Persian. And those windows WOW. love them!

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  2. How wonderful it is that people like myself can see this from half way around the world in Australia! Thank you for sharing your day with us, Ruthie. I especially loved the blue window, which is unlike any other window I have seen! :)

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  3. Luuurve the stained glass and tiles, and the bosses are amazing!
    Thank you for sharing the treasures :)
    x

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  4. Wow, amazing! I haven't got out and about visiting beautiful places like this for over a year now due to my youngest daughter having ME. I miss wandering around old buildings and museums. Hopefully soon she will be better and we can visit beautiful places again... so thank you for the trip, I enjoyed it! xxx

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  5. A wonderful post and fabulous pictures Ruthie.
    Here's a suggestion for your blog readers to get the best view of your pictures. Left clicking on the image brings up bloggers limited size slide show. To view them full screen and enjoy the finer details, right click and select "Open link in new tab", where you can also select the magnifying glass to enlarge the image even more.
    Angelic and Demonic Imagery R.Us.Dot.Com

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  6. Jim ~ Ha! I never knew! thank you!!

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  7. What a contrast from outside to inside - those rich colours are inspiring x Jane

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  8. so many beautiful magical details! the place looks so mysterious surrounded by a gray day!

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  9. Valerianna ~ i loved that about the tiles too, its something im fascinated by in my research, the similarities between the styles & designs of the different cultures.

    Celeste ~ the blue window stood out for me too and was quite different to others i have seen, beautiful.

    Trish,~ i do so hope your daughter is better soon to and you are able to both go on magical journies together x xhugs to you both x

    thank you all for visiting x

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  10. What an inspiring trip. I do love the blue stained glass. x

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  11. Oh Thank you for sharing Ruthie!! I just love seeing pictures of your beautiful homeland! It is such a special place! The stained glass windows and the tiles are gorgeous! Love your blog as always!
    Tricia

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  12. Oh oh oh! Such mystery and history! I think I would just never leave once inside such a place!

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  13. Holy cow! So much gorgeousness! Those ceilings! LOVE gothic. And ... those windows!!! They are so enchantingly beautiful. Thank you for sharing!

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  14. Anonymous10/3/13 14:09

    Impressive - Thank you for sharing the pictures. Have agreat week ahead, Inge

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Thank you for stopping by my wee corner of blog land, I love to hear from you all and will visit as soon as I can.