Standing tall in the land of a giant!

Hello dolls!! A very good Happy Monday to you :) I hope you had a great weekend. Today, I wanted to share with some pictures that I took during the summer. I saved these from then for the rainy days we're having just now. Because I took a lot of photos, I decided to break them into different posts. I'll show you some of York itself in another post, but today I am showing you just York Minster. When I first came to the UK for a holiday, I had barely ever been out of Michigan, so being in a completely different country was mind blowing. Seeing all the castles and cathedrals was like walking through pages of my history books being transported back in time. It was love at first sight when I laid eyes on York. And one of the overpowering tall structures you encounter there is York Minster. To stand next to it, is like standing next to giants, you feel so small. The powering bell that tolls, Gothic figures peering out at you from distances above, the shining gleaming spectrum of colours that dance around you from the sunlight peering through the stained glass windows. The echoing voices of history that sing sweetly again and again. It was lovely to see it once more, though it had changed slightly, you weren't allowed to wander aimlessly inside as you once had been, so pictures were limited inside. Some work was being done to it on the outside, but that didn't stop it's beauty from shining through.  I stopped to get my picture taken near it, though we had been travelling since the early hours of the morning, so I think I look a bit tired, haha! And don't let my blazer let you think it was a cool day, it was blazing hot, I ended up taking that off before melting into the sidewalks. I hope you have a wonderful Monday!! Welcome to new readers here, lovely to have you!!

Loves & Loves to you all!! 

xoxoxoxoxoxo

p.s the first picture I found on Wikipedia as it would have been impossible for me to get a full shot, but I really wanted you to see the full structure as it's so amazingly beautiful. Credit is found at the bottom of the post.

Dainty History Lesson

(please do not feel you have to read all of this, I only put it there for my readers that love to learn UK history).

The first recorded church on the site was a wooden structure built hurriedly in 627 to provide a place to baptise Edwin, King of Northumbria. Moves toward a more substantial building began in the 630s. A stone structure was completed in 637 by Oswald and was dedicated to Saint Peter. The church soon fell into disrepair and was dilapidated by 670 when Saint Wilfrid ascended to the see of York. He repaired and renewed the structure. The attached school and library were established and by the 8th century were some of the most substantial in Northern Europe.

In 741 the church was destroyed in a fire. It was rebuilt as a more impressive structure containing thirty altars. The church and the entire area then passed through the hands of numerous invaders, and its history is obscure until the 10th century. There was a series of Benedictine archbishops, including Saint Oswald, Wulfstan and Ealdred, who travelled to Westminster to crown William in 1066. Ealdred died in 1069 and was buried in the church.

The church was damaged in 1069 during William the Conqueror's harrying of the North, but the first Norman archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux, arriving in 1070, organised repairs. The Danes destroyed the church in 1075, but it was again rebuilt from 1080. Built in the Norman style, it was 111 m (364.173 ft) long and rendered in white and red lines. The new structure was damaged by fire in 1137 but was soon repaired. The choir and crypt were remodelled in 1154, and a new chapel was built, all in the Norman style.

The Gothic style in cathedrals had arrived in the mid 12th century. Walter de Gray was made archbishop in 1215 and ordered the construction of a Gothic structure to compare to Canterbury; building began in 1220. The north and south transepts were the first new structures; completed in the 1250s, both were built in the Early English Gothic style but had markedly different wall elevations. A substantial central tower was also completed, with a wooden spire. Building continued into the 15th century.

The Chapter House was begun in the 1260s and was completed before 1296. The wide nave was constructed from the 1280s on the Norman foundations. The outer roof was completed in the 1330s, but the vaulting was not finished until 1360. Construction then moved on to the eastern arm and chapels, with the last Norman structure, the choir, being demolished in the 1390s. Work here finished around 1405. In 1407 the central tower collapsed; the piers were then reinforced, and a new tower was built from 1420. The western towers were added between 1433 and 1472. The cathedral was declared complete and consecrated in 1472.

Following the easing of religious tensions, there was some work to restore the cathedral. From 1730 to 1736 the whole floor of the minster was relaid in patterned marble and from 1802 there was a majour restoration. However, on the 2nd of February 1829, an arson attack by non-conformist, Jonathan Martin, inflicted heavy damage on the east arm. An accidental fire in 1840 left the nave, south west tower and south aisle roofless and blackened shells. The cathedral slumped deeply into debt and in the 1850's, services were suspended. From 1858 Augustus Duncome worked successfully to revive the cathedral.

During the 20th century there was more concerted preservation work, especially following a 1967 survey that revealed the building, in particular the central tower, was close to collapse. £2,000,000 was raised and spent by 1972 to reinforce and strengthen the building foundations and roof. During the excavations that were carried out, remains of the north corner of the Roman Principia were found under the south transept. This area, as well as remains of the Norman cathedral, will reopen to the public in late spring 2013 when a new exhibition opens, exploring the history of York Minster.

On the 9th of July, 1984, a fire believed to have been started by a lightening strike destroyed the roof in the south transept and around £2.5 million was spent on repairs. Restoration work was completed in 1988. In 2007 renovation began on the east front, including the Great East Window, at an estimated cost of £23 million. A lot of work on just one building and all the fires makes me think it has some bad luck there, but you can't deny it's sheer beauty.

Dainty Boudoir

Dress: Vintage; Jacket: New Look (old); Flower Brooch: Gifted; Earrings: Vintage.

{All photos taken by me, except the first one, gotten from wikipedia, please do not use without my permission}

♥