The fire at Notre Dame in Paris last week caught the world’s attention. One of the older surviving buildings in Paris, and the prototype of the Gothic Cathedral, Notre Dame set the pattern for religious buildings in the high Middle Ages, and is even repeated today in such buildings at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York and the National Cathedral in Washington DC.
In looking at the damage done to Notre Dame, we can see two things, a vision of a damaged cathedral, or, in the alternative, a view of what the original builders saw when the cathedral was being raised in the 9th Century.
Throughout the world there are the ruins of cathedrals, mosques, temples, and other religious shrines that are testament to the aspirations of their designers and builders. They fell victim to war, changes in religious doctrine, forces of nature, or a combination of all of these factors.
In this diary, I will confine myself to cathedrals, based on topicality. No offense to any faith is, I hope, implied or offered by restricting myself to this topic.
Elgin Cathedral
Elgin Cathedral, Scotland: abandoned during the Scottish Reformation in 1560, the roof was stripped of lead in 1657, and the central steeple collapsed in 1711 damaging part of the nave.
Coventry Cathedral
St. Michael’s Cathedral, Coventry, England.
Bombed by the Germans on November 14, 1941, the ruin was preserved as a memorial, and a new cathedral was built next to the ruins.
The Cathedral’s Spire remained intact.
Ani Cathedral
Cathedral at Ani, Turkey: Built as the seat of the Catholicos, or leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, it was temporarily a Byzantine church and then a mosque when the city was captured by the Seljuk Turks.
Later damaged by earthquakes, the Mongols, and neglect.
Urakami Cathedral after the bomb fell.
Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki, Japan.
Was only a few hundred yards from ground zero of the second atomic bomb dropped on Japan on August 9, 1945.
Since rebuilt.
San Juan Cathedral, Guatemala
San Juan Cathedral, Antigua, Guatemala.
Destroyed by an earthquake, 1773.
Another, more robust cathedral was built in its stead, and the ruins were left standing.
St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Fifeshire, Scotland
St. Andrew’s was another Roman Catholic Cathedral abandoned by the Scottish Reformation in 1559 and left to fall into ruin.
Cartagena Cathedral and Roman Amphitheater
And finally these are the ruins of the Cathedral at Cartagena, Spain.
Destroyed in the Spanish Civil War in 1939.
In 1988, the Roman Amphitheater shown in the photo was discovered during excavations.
While there is a certain sadness in looking at ruins such as these, there is also, as shown in the last photo, hope in the building of one structure on the ruins of another.