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A Monumental Presence

The Griffins' Photo Tour: Part I

[MissingALT. It is a view of the cathedral of Lincoln (England).]
The massive façade, the widest front of any medieval cathedral, can only be seen entire from a distance. This view was taken from Lincoln Castle.

The façade of Lincoln minster has been criticized by many people on various grounds, some of them quite good — see for example [Link to Kendrick's Cathedral Church of Lincoln] Kendrick on the west front — but from far enough away, some of the criticism is dissolved. Its proportions are good, its design is elegant, and on top of its hill dominating the small city of Lincoln, the fortress-church certainly cannot fail to impress even the most jaded traveler.

zzz. zzz the cathedral of Lincoln (England).

As you approach the church, from the west at any rate, from impressive it becomes overwhelming. Close enough, and nothing fits in the viewfinder any more. In the 21c, we are used to such problems of scale, in which skyscrapers are beautiful from far away and inhuman to us as we stand on the sidewalk, although no nearer solving them: a thousand years ago the quandary was unusual.

zzz. zzz the cathedral of Lincoln (England).

These proportions would make a nice façade, and the disembodied photograph might fool us. Compare with the photo before it, though, and you'll see there's six or seven more meters of church below what we see here.

zzz. zzz the cathedral of Lincoln (England).

The twin towers are well over 60 meters tall: just how much more, I've been unable to discover, because the statistic everyone will give you is the 82.6 meters (271 feet) for the central tower hiding behind them.

zzz. zzz the cathedral of Lincoln (England).

What from half a town away, in our first photo, looked like elegant fluting now resolves into elegant blind arcading, each of these niches large enough for you to stand in. I suspect that was the point in fact, almost forcing the viewer to insert herself into the architecture, thus creating a human connection. Imagine such a screen wall without them!

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Page updated: 3 Aug 03

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