Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Salisbury Cathedral is the most exquisite example of Gothic architecture I've seen in my life. Its symmetry, its relative simplicity, with little fussiness, its perfect proportions, its awe-inspiring upward thrust, all that and more served to make my visit to the great edifice a visual and spiritual joy.
The gorgeous vaulted and painted ceiling
The view down the nave toward the altar
The magnificent baptismal font, designed by William Pye and installed in 2008, has the following inscription:
'DO NOT FEAR FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU. I HAVE CALLED YOUR NAME, YOU ARE MINE. WHEN YOU PASS THROUGH THE WATERS I WILL BE WITH YOU. AND THROUGH THE RIVERS THEY SHALL NOT OVERWHELM YOU'
Read more about the font at the Salisbury Cathedral website.
All photos are from Wikipedia, with the exception of the font, which is mine.
And then, and then, as if the beauty of the cathedral were not enough, Cathy and I attended Evensong, sung by the choir of St Mark's Episcopal Church Choir from Berkeley, California, of which our long-time online friend, susan s, is a member. susan is third from left on the front row in the picture below. Imagine! I had to go to England to meet my fellow-citizen.
The choir from St Mark's sang beautifully. What a lovely finale to our visit to Salisbury Cathedral.
What a day! Earlier Cathy and I lunched with susan s., Erika, Laura (of Lay Anglicana) and her husband Robert, which lunch I will write about in due time. Chronological order is decidedly not my way of writing about my travels. Sorry about that.
