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by moatway
Riverview, New Brunswick
May 29, 2005
Although the building appears quite imposing from the exterior, once inside, you are greeted by a beautiful Gothic jewel box. It is 172 feet long, 67 feet wide, and 62 feet high in the interior. Once through the single door of entrance, the West Door, the visitor is presented with the whole cathedral. There is a nave with broad side aisles, beautiful Gothic stone arches separating them, and a central aisle leading to the choir and chancel. The transepts, clearly visible from the exterior, are actually quite short, but one is struck by the fine wooden roof, the structure of the heavy wooden pews, and the magnificent Gothic window of the apse. Below it is an altar of walnut and marble on which sits a wonderful altar cross and candlesticks. Before the altar are the 16 carved wooden stalls of the Canons of the Cathedral Chapter.
Other features of the cathedral include stone taken from cathedrals in Arras and Ypres as part of a tribute to the fallen of World War I. Stone was taken from Canterbury Cathedral and a font carved of Caen stone. As you leave the church, look up at the hammer beam roof once again, a beautiful example of medieval-style woodwork. Also, look up at the Gothic west window above the door, another beautiful part of an incredibly satisfactory whole. There are many fine churches in New Brunswick, but this one is truly special in its tribute to the medieval world. It has timelessness about it, and once inside, you feel that you might be in some little corner of England.
From journal Fredericton: The City of Stately Elms