Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth

The Portsmouth Cathedral ( Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth) is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Diocese of Portsmouth and is dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. It is the seat of the Bishop of Portsmouth and was opened on 10 August 1892.

History

The cathedral was built in 1882 to accommodate the rapidly growing community of Roman Catholic Christians can. It replaced then built a chapel in 1796, the west was about 800 meters from the present cathedral. The cathedral can be architecturally attributed to the neo-Gothic style of the 19th century, as it has a curved apse and a flat transept. It was originally designed by John Crawley with a high tower at the southwest corner, but the underground made ​​this impossible. Crawley died immediately after construction began. The project was continued by his partner Joseph Hansom who changed the design. The building was constructed mainly from red bricks.

1941, the cathedral was badly damaged during the Second World War. Especially the windows with their stained glass windows, and above all the window above the high altar, were effectively destroyed by the bomb attack and had to be repaired or replaced. The round window ( Rose Window ) in the south transept was obtained as a single.

The distribution in the interior of the cathedral was changed on several occasions. Thus the high altar, which was initially in the apse of the choir, made ​​in 1906 to the front and provided with an elaborate canopy. During this time, the walls of Nathaniel Westlake were decorated with paintings. They were destroyed in the 1970s. 1971 prompted bishop Warlock another major reorganization that included a reduction of the canopy and a new design for the altar. This could look directly at the congregation of priests. In 1982, the previous order was made ​​by Bishop Emery again. At the turn of the century an extensive restoration, reorganization and expansion of the cathedral was decided by Bishop Hollis.

In Portsmouth there are two cathedrals. In the second cathedral is the Cathedral of St Thomas of Canterbury (The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Portsmouth) of the Anglican Church. It is also often referred to as Portsmouth Cathedral called.

Equipment

The organ was erected in 2001 by the organ builder David Wells in the cathedral. It is an instrument which by organ builder TC Lewis had been built for a church in Christchurch. The instrument was restored and expanded, which also registers from the former organ of the organ builder Mander were used from the year 1964. The organ has 51 registers on three manuals and pedal today. From the Manual of the choir organ is played, consisting of two separate works. The tracker action are electric.