Glasgow Cathedral - St. Mungo's Cathedral

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Glasgow Cathedral

 

Standing majestically in the center of the largest city in Scotland is the Glasgow Cathedral.

It has the sole distinction of being the Scotland’s only medieval cathedral to have withstood

the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century virtually unscathed.

There was once an area here where bishops, archbishops, and men of the cloth took up residence

called a “chanonry”. The southern side of the cathedral was home to a small town under the

patronage of the bishops. That town has since grown into an impressive contemporary city.

Considered as the epitome of cathedral building of Europe’s Early Middle Ages, Glasgow Cathedral is Scotland’s finest building from that period.

The building’s oldest part dates back from the time of Bishop Jocelin’s (1174–99), known for ‘gloriously enlarging’ Glasgow Cathedral in 1181. With the occurrence of a fire, work on the structure halted and the task of completing it fell to those who succeeded him, namely Bishop William de Bondington (1233–58).

The finished result was a spectacular Gothic array of pointed arcades, slim windows with traceries, and an unusual confection of three vaulted aisles surrounding the choir and the presbytery. It was originally meant to house a pilgrim shrine in honor of St. Kentigern located at ground level, just behind the high altar and above the saint’s tomb whose crypt is located just beneath it.