Description: Outraged at the orgy of vandalism, in the period from 1560 that destroyed so many Scottish churches and monasteries, the ordinary people of Glasgow said a distinct ‘No’ to the destruction of their cathedral during the Reformation. They took up arms to protect Glasgow Cathedral. If it had been destroyed, this would have lost over 1,400 years of history and beauty.
If only others had stood firm like the Glasgow citizens, for so much of beauty was lost during the Reformation. Scotland alone is littered with the remains of monasteries ruined during this period. Even from the scant remains their former beauty is evident. What for religion if this is what it can achieve?
Glasgow Cathedral has history built into its layers. The Blacader Aisle in the Lower Church is the site of the original church founded in AD590 by St Kentigern, bishop of Strathclyde – better known as St Mungo. He travelled widely and spread his message down the west coast of Britain as far as North Wales. Appropriately his tomb lies in the centre of the site of his simple wooden church.
The first stone church on the site opened in the presence of King David I of Scotland in 1136. It occupied the area covered by the present nave. Its walls below windows level date back to the early 1200s. Later building on the wall and adding the upper and lower choirs to the east end of the nave largely completed the present cathedral.
A choir screen splits the upper parts of the church into the nave and the choir. The sloping site on which the church sits allowed the construction an unusual feature - a lower church occupying the area under the choir. This is a beautifully vaulted space. At its heart lies the tomb of St Mungo while at its east end are a series of chapels. These include the Chapel of St John the Evangelist still containing the well used by St Mungo in the late 500s for his water supply.
Eager pilgrims queued to get into these chapels after 1451, when the Pope declared that a pilgrimage to Glasgow Cathedral would carry the same merit as one to Rome. Perhaps he didn’t appreciate hordes of grimy tartan-clad pilgrims appearing in his holy city?
One of the joys of Glasgow Cathedral is the way it is continually changing and adapting. There are many examples of this, but the most striking is the beautiful Millennium Window placed in the north wall of the nave in 1999. Three schools, Glasgow Academy, Hutcheson's Academy and the High School of Glasgow, holding annual services in the Cathedral, raised the funds to pay for it.
The window is true to the spirit of others in the Cathedral produced as far back as the 1400s as traditional techniques formed the production method. However the imagery and overall appearance are far from traditional being a distinctive symphony of shades of blue.
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