THE CANTERBURY MONASTERY

INFORMATION

• Canterbury's other important monuments are the modest Church of St Martin, the oldest church in England; the ruins of the Abbey of St Augustine, a reminder of the saint's evangelizing role in the Heptarchy from 597;

THE CANTERBURY MONASTERY

• St Martin’s Church, the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey, and Christ Church Cathedral together reflect milestones in the history of Christianity in Britain.

• The reintroduction of Christianity to southern Britain by St Augustine, commencing at St Martin’s Church where Queen Bertha already worshipped, and leading to the conversion of King Ethelbert.

COMPARATION

PAST• The successive architectural

responses to Canterbury’s developing role as focus of the Church in England – adaptation of Roman buildings

PRESENT• the development of Anglo-

Saxon building in mortared brick and stone, and the flowering of Romanesque and Gothic.

INFORMATION

• The Abbey scriptorium, which was one of the great centres of insular book production, and whose influence extended far beyond the boundaries of Kent and Northumbria.

INFORMATION

• Canterbury’s importance as a pilgrimage centre based on Augustine and its other early saints was transformed by the murder and canonization of Archbishop Thomas Becket, whose Cathedral shrine attracted pilgrims from all over Europe.

• The architecture and remarkable stained glass and furnishings of Canterbury Cathedral thus provide a complete panorama of Gothic art, from its earliest beginnings to its culmination and decline.

INFORMATION

• PAST • PRESENT

CATHEDRAL

• The wealth and power of the Cathedral in the 12th century, when the offerings of large numbers of pilgrims helped the building of the magnificent enlargement of the east end, with its exceptional stained glass windows and the rebuilding of the choir and transepts following the fire of 1174.

ANGLON SAXON

• The Cathedral’s rich panorama of Romanesque, early Gothic, and late Gothic art and architecture.

MODERN

• Canterbury, in Kent, has been the seat of the spiritual head of the Church of England for almost five centuries.

• St Martin's Church, St Augustine's Abbey and the cathedral are directly and tangibly associated with the history of the introduction of Christianity to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms

CHURCH

• Within the urban perimeter of Canterbury, three distinct cultural properties are on the World Heritage List: the modest St Martin's Church; the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey; and the superb Christ Church Cathedral,

THE STRUCTURES

• Two distinct structures seem to appear in Christ Church Cathedral, a major building of medieval architecture. To the east, partially covering a huge Romanesque crypt with admirably carved capitals, is some of the most beautiful architectural space of early Gothic art: the choir

• Trinity Chapel and the circular Corona Chapel. The two architects, William of Sens, a Frenchman, and William the Englishman, worked at the site from 1174 to 1184.