Canterbury

Canterbury Cathedral is located in the south of England in the county of Kent. It is well known as one of the oldest and most famous cathedrals in England. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury who serves as the leader of the Church of England.

The cathedral is most famous for the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170, and the subsequent pilgrimages made there to honor him. Becket’s remains were originally placed in the crypt but were moved up and placed in a shrine for people on pilgrimage to see. However, when Henry VIII called for the dissolution of the monasteries the shrine with Becket’s remains was removed and has not been recovered.

The cathedral we see today is very different from the cathedral in the past. It has been built over two centuries and has suffered fires and other destruction. You can see the change in architecture as you walk through the cathedral. The rounded Roman arches transform into the pointed Gothic arches.

During the Puritan reign in England many of the icons and paintings in the cathedral were destroyed. The heads and hands were cut off most of the icons and the paintings removed from the walls and ceilings. However, in the crypt there is a room that had been blocked off by a stone wall for hundreds of years. When this wall was removed it was discovered that the room had escaped the Puritan’s grasp. The Medieval ceiling paintings can still be seen.