Chichester Cathedral
- About the place
- Visitors information
History
In the heart of the city, this fine Cathedral has been a centre of Christian worship and community life for 900 years and is the site of the Shrine of St Richard of Chichester. After 1066 the Norman policy was that those cathedrals which were in small communities should be moved to larger centres of population. In 1075 the See of Chichester was established in what had been an important Roman city.
Architecture
The building of the present Cathedral was begun in 1076 and consecrated to the Holy Trinity in 1108. Thus Transitional and Early English work was added to the original Romanesque, and in subsequent centuries there was additional building in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles.
Attractions
Subsequent generations have introduced other styles of architecture, but, perhaps more significantly, the Christian faith has been interpreted by many creative artists, from early Romanesque stone carvings, Tudor paintings, to the very important modern works of art such as the tapestries by John Piper and Ursula Benker-Schirmer, the window by Marc Chagall, paintings by Graham Sutherland, Hans Feibusch and Patrick Procktor, the font by John Skelton and a sculpture of Christ in Judgement by Philip Jackson.