19 October 2018

Peterborough Cathedral, The West Front




The card shows the West Front of Peterborough Cathedral, which is what welcomes you as you enter the main gate to the cathedral grounds. When we have friends and relatives visiting us in the city, we never fail to tour them inside the Cathedral.

This year 2018, the city of Peterborough is celebrating the 900th anniversary of this iconic Cathedral, one of the finest Norman cathedrals in England.

According to Wikipedia:
Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the three high gables of the famous West Front. Although it was founded in the Anglo-Saxon period, its architecture is mainly Norman, following a rebuilding in the 12th century. With Durham and Ely Cathedrals, it is one of the most important 12th-century buildings in England to have remained largely intact, despite extensions and restoration.

Peterborough Cathedral is known for its imposing Early English Gothic West Front (façade) which, with its three enormous arches, is without architectural precedent and with no direct successor. The appearance is slightly asymmetrical, as one of the two towers that rise from behind the façade was never completed (the tower on the right as one faces the building), but this is only visible from a distance.