St John the Baptist Cathedral, Norwich

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist ( Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist ) in the eastern English city of Norwich is the bishop's church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia. The by George Gilbert Scott Junior 1882 designed Neo-Gothic basilica was completed in 1910. It is the second largest Catholic cathedral in England to Westminster Cathedral and listed as Grade I building since 1954. A large part of the construction costs donated by the Duke of Norfolk Henry Fitzalan - Howard.

History

Around the middle of the 18th century there was a Jesuit mission in Norwich and a modest backyard chapel under the patronage of John the Baptist in the Maddermarket Street. In the course of Catholic Emancipation was created in the 1820s the neoclassical Apostle Chapel in the Willow Lane, now a law firm. The community grew by conversion and by Irish immigrants. In 1870 a second Catholic church was built on the Fisher Lane.

1877 married Henry Fitzalan - Howard, head of the only Catholic family of the English aristocracy and founder of the cathedrals of Southwark, Arundel and Sheffield. He decided, as a thanksgiving to God in Norwich, the capital of its eponymous county of Norfolk to have built a new church representative, and certain even the architect. At this time the old city jail was demolished and in a building site close to the center free. On July 17, 1884, the cornerstone was laid.

1892, when the great church was half finished, there was a suspension of the work, because the building was not approved in full. Fitzalan - Howard reached the adding on a very personal letter to the representatives of the city. In 1894 the nave was so far completed that the parish church services were celebrated in the new church. After completion of all work of the Bishop of Northampton Frederick William Keating took place on 8 December 1910, the feast of the dedication.

The Catholic population in the region continued to grow, and in 1976 the new Diocese of East Anglia, based in Norwich was formed from the eastern part of the Diocese of Northampton. The kathedralmäßige parish church was thus canonically to the cathedral.

Architecture and Facilities

The John's Cathedral is one of the most important examples of English Gothic Revival. At the same time it is the continental breakfast Gothic closer than comparable buildings of their time in England. The total length is 84 meters. The three-aisled nave consists of a narthex and nine yokes with triforium, clerestory and groin vaults. The transept has two arms and three-bay crossing the square, on which stands a mighty crossing tower zinnenbekrönter. The three-bay choir closes flat. All four facades are richly adorned with windows, gables and towers flank.

The huge space is only restrained equipped and acts primarily through the architectural decoration. In the chancel arch is a triumph of the cross. The narrow, maßwerklosen windows are glazed with polychrome Bible and pictures of saints.