Friday, December 27, 2013

The Majesty of the Cathedral of St Andrews

It was the largest and most magnificent cathedral in Scotland. 
Built in 1158 and dedicated to Andrew the Apostle this Roman Catholic cathedral dominated the kingdom of Fife which in fact did not actually have a king at all. 
It became the centre of the Medieval Catholic Church in Scotland. 
Yet today it is but a ghost of its former glory.


Today you walk through the stone arch entrance and are graced with a strange feeling of being both inside and out. 
The cathedral fell into ruin and disuse during the Scottish Reformation in the 16th Century.
So long since gone are its 30m high ceilings.
 Yet three of its exterior walls still stand to some extent allowing you to imagine and sense the huge scale that was this cathedrals original 118m length and 51m width. 




Empty spaces where altars and stained glass should be. 


Silent witnesses to watch over the crumbling of something that once stood so tall. 


A longing looking out at the North Sea. 



Funny how no matter how much stone a building can lose it can still stand as tall as the day it was built in the minds of those that visit it.

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