(完整版)纯英文版_Cathedral

1、From a small Saxon church to a great Cathedral, the long history ofthis sacred place stretches back over 15 centuries. You' ll find so mudiscover: glorious church architecture and tiny crafted details, priceless treasures and great works of art, historic events and famous people. We hope you 

2、9; ll visit.Fifteen centuries of English history lie behind the massive Cathedral you see today. It stands at the heart of historic Winchester, once the seat ofAnglo-Saxon and Norman royal power, on the site of an early Christian church. It' s been a place of worship ever since.A royal Anglo-Sax

3、on churchToday 'Csathedral has its roots in the seventh century, when England 's pagan monarchy first became Christians.In 635, Cynegils, king of the West Saxons, was baptised. Just over a decade later, his son Cenwalh built the first Christian church inWinchester, the heart of Anglo-Saxon W

4、essex.This small, cross-shaped church became known as Old Mi nster. You can still see where it stood, its outline traced in red brick, just north of the prese nt buildi ng.Soon, Old Min ster became a cathedral, hous ing the thron ecathedra) of a bishop who held sway over a huge diocese that stretche

5、d from the En glishCha nnel to the river Thames.This was now the most importa nt royal church in An glo-Sax on En gla nd.It was the burial place for some of the earliest kings of Wessex, includingKing Alfred the Great.Here too King Cnut, who ruled England and Denmark in the early 11th cen tury, chos

6、e to be buried, and was joined by his wife Queen Emma on her death in 1052.A place of pilgrimageBy the 10th cen tury, Old Min ster was the priory church of a com mun ity of monks, living a simple life of frequent prayer under the rule of StBen edict.Here, eight times a day, the monks would pray and

7、cha nt the begi nnings of the great En glish choral traditi on that rema ins one of the n ati on ' s treasures today.The church was made bigger and grander by its 10th-century bishop,Aethelwold. The bones of St Swithun, a former bishop, were dug up from its forecourt and housed in a sple ndid ne

8、w shri ne in side.St Swithun 'fame spread far and wide. All round his tomb, the wallswere hung with the crutches of people he' d healed.By the year 1000, Old Min ster was a multipurpose buildi ng -a mightyCathedral, a thriving priory church, a healing place of pilgrimage, and the final resti

9、ng place of West Saxon kings.The Norma ns arriveBut huge changeslay ahead,as England 'Ssaxon leaders were abruptly toppled by a great new military power.In 1066, William the Conqueror successfully invaded England from his duchy of Normandy. He was anointed king at Westminster Abbey, and quickly

10、moved to take control of the Church.He replaced Winchester' s last Saxon bishop with hiosyoawl cnhraplain,Walkelin. The French bishop set about building a huge new church in theNorman Romanesque style.After 450 years, Old Minster was demolished. Its stones were used for the new Cathedral, consec

11、ratedin 1093 with a great ceremony attended by almost all England ' s bishops and abbots.You can still the Norman roots of our present Cathedral in its massive, round-arched crypt and transepts today.A thriv ing medieval CathedraThe Norman Cathedral flourished. William Rufus, William theConquero

12、r ' s son, was buried here in 1100.You can still see the rema ins of its great mon astery, St Swithu nThese in clude the 14th-ce ntury Pilgrims Hall where visitors stayed, and the site of the monksmit6ry,dnxDw a tranq uil garde n.Sumptuous works of art were commissi on ed. A glorious new font ce

13、lebrat ing the work of St Nicholas was in stalled. I n the 12th cen tury, a magnificent illuminated Bible was made for the monks to use in their daily worship. You can still see the Win Chester Bible in the CathedralLibrary.In the centuries that followed, wealthy and powerful bishops put their stamp

14、 on the Norman cathedral. They remodelled it with soaring gothic arches the 14th century, making it even more ornate in the 15th and 16th cen turies.They also commissi oned their own chapels, where priests would say daily massesover their tombs to speed their souls into heaven. These fine chantry ch

15、apels rema in one of the great glories of our Cathedral.A new Church of En gla ndThe dissolution of England' s monasteries during the 1530s under HenryVIII, in his dispute with the Catholic church of Rome, was a catastrophic upheaval. All were swept away. A few, including Winchester, were re-fou

16、n ded as cathedrals.After n early 600 years, Win chester great Ben edict ine mon astery, St Swithun ' s Priory, hadme to an end. The shrine of its patron saint was ran sacked un der cover of dark ness, and its cloister demolished.In the 1550s, Roman Catholicism was briefly revived by Henry '

17、 s daughter Mary Tudor, who married her Spanish husba nd in the Cathedral.But from then on, the reformed Church of England held sway.It brought with it a new prayer book written in English so all could un dersta nd, and a new patter n of worship based on Matt ins, HolyCom mun io n and Evensong. Thes

18、e great An glica n services still form the basis of our worship in today.To the prese nt dayBy the early 16th century, much of the Cathedral you see today was complete.New secular n ames became linked to this place, to add to those of mighty kings and bishops, from the 17th-ce ntury an gler Izaak Wa

19、lt on to the great early 19th-ce ntury En glish no velist Jane Auste n.The 19th cen tury saw much restorati on work, in cludi ng new stone statuesfor the huge 15th-century Great Screen behind the altar. The Cathedral' sOrgan, a cut-dow n versi on of a huge orga n displayed at the 1851 GreatExhib

20、iti on in London, was bought.By the early 1900s, there were fears that the east end of this ancient buildi ng would collapse, after cen turies of subside nee. Deep-sea diver,William Walker, worked under water in total darkness for six years to stabilise them.Today, after 12 centuries, this great Cat

21、hedral church remains the seat of the Bishop of Win chester and centre of the Diocese of Win Chester. Its beautiful spaces continue to echo to the sound of daily prayers and glorious sacred music.It is also a thriving attraction for visitors all over the world, a precious heritage that we seek to co

22、n serve for future gen erati ons. Please visit u you ' ll find a war welcomeWinchester Cathedral is a beautiful Anglican cathedral in the county of Hampshire, southeast England. The present structure, dating mostly from 1097, it is the longest cathedral in the country.HistoryA Saxon church was b

23、uilt on this spot in 648 and was soon used by a Benedictine monastery which came to be named the Priory of St. Swithun.Saint Swithun (d. 862) was bishop of Winchester and a tutor to young King Alfred. Despite his importance in life, the saint humbly requested that he be buried outside upon his death

24、, so that "passers by might tread on his grave and where the rain from the eaves might fall on it." He was initially buried in the churchyard in accordance with his wishes, in a highly prestigious position.But when the Saxon cathedral, the Old Minster, was enlarged in 971, the saint's

25、remains were moved inside. According to legend, it then rained nonstop for 40 days. Local lore still has it that if it rains on St. Swithun's Day (July 15), 40 days of rain will follow:St. Swithun's day, if thou dost rain,For forty days it will remain;St. Swithun's day, if thou be fair,F

26、or forty days 'twill rain na mair.The present church, the longest medieval cathedral in Britain, dates from 1079, and was built in the Norman (Romanesque) style. St. Swithun's remains were moved to the new church in 1093. The cathedral was at the heart of a powerful diocese that stretched fr

27、om the Thames River to the Channel Islands and attracted many pilgrims who came to pray at the tombs of Swithun and other saints.The influential and wealthy bishops of Winchester further developed and adorned their cathedral throughout the Middle Ages. The east end was expanded in the 13th century.

28、Even more remodeling and expansion took place in the 14th century, including the Gothic nave, west front and choir stalls.Stephen Gardiner (1531-55) was the last important Roman Catholic bishop of Winchester, during the reign of Queen Mary I . He officiated at her marriage to Philip of Spain, which

29、took place in Winchester Cathedral.What to SeeThe soaring Perpendicular Gothic nave of Winchester Cathedral, the longest in England, is the highlight of the building. Also impressive are the chantry chapels, the reredos (late-15th-century ornamental screens), and the elaborately carvedchoir stalls f

30、eaturing flowers and plants, owls and monkeys, dragons, knights and green men.Jane Austen is buried here; her grave is marked with a commemorative plaque. Also buried in Win Chester Cathedral are the bones of many Saxon kings, the remains of the Viking conqueror Canute and his wife, Emma, and the re

31、mains of William Rufus (William II), son of William the Conq ueror.The tra nsept and cross ing tower are survivors from the Norma n period (11th century), as is the crypt. The crypt has an unusual feature: it still floods periodically in the win ter. I n the cen ter of the crypt is Sound II, a moder

32、n sculpture by Anthony Gormley that was designed to stand in water.The cathedral's library contains over 4,000 books, including several illumi nated manu scripts from the Middle Ages. Especially no table are Bishop Morley's 17th-century book collection and an exhibition room contains the 12t

33、h-ce ntury Win chester Bible.The Triforium shows sculpture, woodwork, and metalwork from 11 cen turies and provides magni fice nt views over the rest of the cathedral.The Close once contained the domestic buildings for the monks of the Priory of St. Swithun. Most of these buildings were destroyed du

34、ring Henry VII I's Dissolution of the Monasteries.Stuff about Variable DataThe Building? The WriterThe Buildi ngEnglish history is writ large on this city, a place where the past seems as cogent as the present. At its heart lies the Cathedral, an immense cupboard of memories, into which the outs

35、ide light filters softly and with respect. Begun in 1079 and designed in the Romanesque style, the building was the nerve centre of a huge diocese that embraced the Channel Isla nds and the banks of the River Thames in London. Just as its architecture remains a celebration of human ingenuity and spi

36、ritual feeling so the blows of enraged iconoclasts who attacked its holiest sites in 1538 con ti nue to remind us of the troubli ng range of huma n passi on. For all its ethereal beauty, however, the Cathedral is a place where materiality, in all its beauty, is evident: from the stone brought from t

37、he Isle of Wight and the oak timbers wren ched from the Hampshire forests, to the window glass, silver, brass and bronze, the sense of authentic purpose to the buildi ng, of its almost con scious feeli ng of whole ness, is tan gible. But as with all things material, its age is show ing. Great acts o

38、f heroism have bee n spe nt in sav ing this mighty ark - the daredevil exploits of William Walker and the other divers who, early last century, worked to fix the water-logged foun dati ons are but the most well-k nown. Because of these, the voice of the Cathedral is still heard in its many forms - t

39、he mighty bells, which have rung here since Saxon times, the great organ that stunned Queen Victoria, the choristers' song and the plural open mouths of its congregation. As the building fills with sound, the dust of ages falls in glittering slow-motion from arch to arch to floor. This, then, is

40、 architecture of human affection.With John, the Cathedral was getting more than someone who could write. Perhaps unbeknownst to them, the Cathedral authorities had invited a reader into their midst. Not just a reader of texts - we are all this, to a greater or lesser extent - but a reader of time an

41、d its effects. John's work arrives, it seems, partially through a process of contemplation and partially through a form of divination. Probably most well-known for his Southwark Mysteries, a dramatic work realised with the enthusiastic help of Southwark Cathedral and in which the persona of a Th

42、ameside * makes herself known in all her shamelessglory, John is a man whose uncompromising vision can require a strong stomach.His text takes a step back from the present, however, and conflates events from the recent past - protests over the Winchester bypass feature prominently in a visual accoun

43、t that blends modern police shields with those of ancient warriors - with imagined scenes from the Cathedral's more distant past, such as St Benedict's growth as a spiritual leader. It's an approach to history that ignores dates and the dry vocabulary of the text book in favour of a semi

44、-dramatised account as seen from several individuals' point of view. For John, the Cathedral is a story that, similarly, has been built, rebuilt, smashed and restored and this constant tug of war between these two opposing instincts shapes his fragmented series of narratives. The various text fo

45、rmats he's used - some prose descriptions, others in the form of semi-scanning poems - convey an impression of different structures that echo the shifts in architectural style featured inside the Cathedral itself. Nothing, John texts seems to imply, is just one thing. It is many things, some of

46、them perhaps quite at odds with each other. Such is the rich contradiction of the life physical and spiritual.The shamanistic side of John creative personality - he does believe he has authentic visions - has to be taken at face value. "The Southwark Mysteries was in the form of visitations and

47、 I was quite shaken by it. So I made a conscious decision to go with the instinctive and go with the impression of a coherent, autonomous voice". Asked whether his claims for such visitations are a literary conceit or a literal experience, John says it doesn't ultimately matter. One can only wonder what the Cathedral authorities felt when he asked them if he could spend a night inside the building. "I was interested in absence as well as presence - who is missing, who is there. Being able to communicate with the past, y