Magnificent Architecture, Spiritual Sanctuary

 　　The Cradle of British Christian Civilization

　　

　　An ancient church, a far-reaching collection of stories, the heaviness of religion and the legend of literature, this is a unique feature of the small town of Canterbury in Kent, southeastern England. This is the seat of the British religious leaders. This small town with a population of about 42,000 has the oldest and most solemn St. Martin's Church in the UK, the remains of a monastery commemorating St. Augustine, and the world-famous Canterbury Cathedral. Canterbury Cathedral, officially known as the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury, is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, chief bishop of the Anglican Church. This magnificent cathedral and its diocese are the cradle of British Christian civilization and the witness of the rise and development of British Christianity, so it is called "the gate of heaven".

　　Canterbury has a special and important significance in British history. According to historical records, Canterbury was already very prosperous before the Roman invasion in 43 AD, and had close trade relations with Belgium and other European countries. It is said that St. Martin's Church was built during this period. In 597 AD, Augustine, a missionary from Rome, was appointed by the Pope to lead 40 monks to England to preach. He came to Canterbury, the capital of the Saxon Kent kingdom at the time. The king at that time was a pagan, but Queen Bertha was a Christian. With the support of the queen, Augustine gained a firm foothold here and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. He used St. Martin's Church as a base to promote Christian doctrine, and built St. Augustine's Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral here, spreading Christianity to the whole of England. These three religious buildings laid the foundation for the development of Christianity in England. Since then, the church built on this foundation has assumed a central role in the Christian Church in England, so it has been hailed as the cradle of the Christian faith.

　　Since St. Augustine was the first Archbishop of Canterbury in AD 598, Canterbury has witnessed the birth of more than 100 archbishops for more than 1,400 years. In the United Kingdom, the archbishop has a higher status than the bishop, governs the vast diocese, and enjoys the highest authority of the church. Canterbury Cathedral is the highest authority of the Anglican Church, therefore, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader of the Church of England.

　　In the 12th century, Canterbury saw a battle between the royal family and the church. In the Middle Ages, the church was powerful and supported by the Holy See, and often competed with the king. In order to weaken the power of the church and the nobility and strengthen the kingship, in 1162, King Henry II appointed his subordinate and close friend Thomas Beckett as the Archbishop of Canterbury, hoping to control the Church of England. However, after Beckett took over as a bishop, he fought against the royal court as an archbishop, opposed the king's control of church affairs, refused to recognize the royal privilege, and claimed to only obey the Pope of Rome, which made the conflict between the royal family and the church intensified. The king was dissatisfied with the archbishop and quarreled with him frequently. The four loyal knights, who had always regarded the king's wishes as their responsibility, mistook the king's complaints against the archbishop for an order, and conspired to kill Beckett in the cathedral. After learning of Beckett's death, Henry II was remorseful, walked barefoot to Canterbury Cathedral, knelt before Beckett's tomb, and was whipped by bishops, abbots and monks. Years later, TS Eliot's "The Cathedral Murder" was based on this story. Beckett's death shocked the Christian world. Three years later, Beckett was honored by believers as "Saint Thomas the Martyr"; in 1172, Pope Alexander III posthumously made Beckett a saint. Since then, Beckett's shrine in Canterbury Cathedral has become one of the most famous places of worship in Christendom. His spirit is revered by people, and it is said that his relics also have magical powers to cure diseases.

　　As a result, for hundreds of years, countless believers poured into Canterbury to worship the "martyr". The religious status of Canterbury Cathedral was greatly improved, and Canterbury became the "Holy City" of the United Kingdom.

　　

　　The architectural features of the cathedral There are three main religious institutions in

　　

　　Canterbury Cathedral and its diocese, namely the cathedral in the city, the abbey outside the city, and St. Martin's Church in the east of the city. In addition to these main buildings, there are also a number of chapels and churchyards scattered in the parish, which together constitute a magnificent religious complex in the Canterbury region.

　　Canterbury Cathedral is located in the center of the city and is the main building of the entire diocese. The cathedral is magnificent in scale, about 156 meters long, 50 meters wide, and the middle tower is 78 meters high. It was built in the Roman era and started to rebuild in the 11th century. Later, it underwent several continuations and expansions to form its current scale. As each part of the building was built in different eras, it presents different architectural styles. The tall and narrow central hall, the towering middle tower and the north and south towers on the west façade are Gothic, with the imposing manner of going straight to the sky; the east façade facing the gate is in a strong and dignified Norman style.

　　The entrance and exit of the cathedral is a late Gothic Christian gate. After passing through the courtyard behind the entrance, you can come to the west gate and enter the nave of the cathedral. The building structure of the nave and the high altar of the cathedral towers vertically and is magnificent. In the nave, each tall column rises from the ground, vertical lines and spires support an open space, and the whole building presents a strong soaring momentum, which makes the viewer feel the shocking power and strong feeling of heaven spontaneously. Refuge yearning. The hall is very wide and can accommodate thousands of people, and the details in the hall decorate the church very beautifully. The columns are intertwined in exquisite patterns on the dome, and as far as the eye can see, there are exquisite golden reliefs, some rough and some delicate, which are impressive: the sarcophagus of the past archbishop is placed on the side of the hall, and the walls are decorated with nobles and Memorial plaques of saints; stained glass mosaics on tall glass windows are one of the artistic features here, with a wide range of subjects, depicting scenes from biblical stories to ordinary people's life scenes, the most outstanding works in England in the 12th and 13th centuries , became the Bible for the illiterate saints. The stained glass windows are mainly red and blue, blue symbolizes the kingdom of heaven, red symbolizes the blood of Christ, and the round glass window symbolizes heaven, expressing people's inner ideal of yearning for the kingdom of heaven. After hundreds of years of historical vicissitudes, the glass window paintings are still colorful and crystal clear, like a giant kaleidoscope, very gorgeous. The majestic appearance of the cathedral, the straight lines, and the strange space transitions create a strong religious atmosphere through various light and exquisite relief decorations and colorful light from the glass windows, creating a mysterious "Heaven God". palace".

　　On the high altar in the middle of the church is the marble throne of Augustine, where generations of Archbishops of Canterbury held their inauguration ceremonies and sat on this chair to become the chief bishops of the whole UK. At the top of the nave steps is a stone pulpit, decorated with images of angels and kings embracing shields. The pulpit is flanked by a choir decorated with white marble. It was designed and built by the French architect William in 1174. Its sharp contrast effect has attracted many cathedral architects. This artistic trend has swept across the UK for a century. Historically known as "Early English Gothic". Later, a partition wall built between 1411 and 1430 separated the choir from the main church hall, the church of the Trinity from this period. From the high altar to the depths of the cathedral are the shrine of Archbishop Beckett and the tomb of Edward the Black Prince. In the northwest corner of the church, on the ancient wall facing the straight porch, hangs a black cross with two overlapping long swords hanging down, pointing to the place where St. Thomas was killed. Down, the two swords cast two long shadows on the wall, like four swords, symbolizing the four killers.

　　The oldest existing building of the cathedral is the catacomb at the east end, built around 1100 to commemorate the martyrdom of St. Thomas here. There are 22 huge columns in classical style in the catacomb, a strong and unshakable shape. It shows the authority of the church and is the only remaining Roman-style building in the church. From its remnants, it is not difficult to imagine the grand scale of the largest cellar in England at the time.

　　Canterbury Abbey is the largest monastery in the UK, housing 150 monks in retreat, including a huge cloister, conference hall, residences, dining hall, church and hospital. In the 7th and 8th centuries AD, it was the center of theology and academic research. A new church was built in the 11th century abbey to house St Augustine and the early archbishops of Canterbury. Most of the monastery was demolished in 1538. Published in 1844

it is considered the most important Saxon-era relic in existence in Britain.

　　St. Martin's Church is located at the foot of the hill in the east of the city. It is mainly composed of the central hall, the altar and the west tower. It is one of the oldest churches in the UK. The building looks ordinary at first, but the details of the interior are complex, which is a testimony to historical evolution. The church was built in Roman times, and after it was destroyed by war, it was rebuilt and renovated. On the restored stained glass, the events of the church over the years can be read. The greatest contribution of St. Martin's Church is its profound influence on American church architecture, and many American churches are based on it in style.

　　The Church Quarter occupies the north-east of the city, is walled, and a path leads from the Church Quarter to Old Canterbury. The quiet and solemnity within the parish is in stark contrast to the bustling prosperity of the outer business district.

　　

　　The humanistic heritage of Canterbury The famous

　　

　　British poet Wystan Hugh Auden once compared Canterbury Cathedral to "the giant wheel of the soul" because this building carries too much historical and cultural accumulation. This cradle of Christianity has not only created Christian cathedrals and architectural complexes, but also nurtured a number of literati as a Christian culture centered on the cathedral.

　　Beckett's encounter stimulated the imagination of writers and provided them with inspiration and sources of creation. The great contemporary poet and dramatist TS Eliot's "The Cathedral Murder" is based on the true story of Canterbury Cathedral. Tennyson in England and Anoui in France also wrote about the martyred saint. Poets, dramatists and novelists with various ties to Canterbury also: Thomas Marlowe, known as the "Father of English Drama", was born and educated in Canterbury, and today his full-length statue stands in Canterbury. On the square outside the Marlow Theatre in the city; the famous modern novelist William Maugham spent his youth in a boarding school here, and the novel "The Shackles of Human Nature" records his life experience in Canterbury; Jane Austen works The garden paths depicted many times in Canterbury, as if she herself had visited Canterbury many times; Dickens' novel "David Copperfield" has the Canterbury city setting; Keats also went to Canterbury to experience the antiquity of the Middle Ages: and Daniel More than a dozen writers, including Defoe, John Swift, and Joseph Conrad, are inextricably linked to this holy city.

　　Also closely associated with this church is Geoffrey Chaucer, the founder of English literature and the father of English poetry. His collection of poetic short stories, The Canterbury Tales, written between 1386 and 1400, is the first to link literature to Canterbury Cathedral. It is also the first great work of English literature written in Middle English. The 17,000-line verse consists of 25 humorous stories told by pilgrims, depicting medieval Christians visiting Canterbury Cathedral to worship St Thomas . The Christian cultural tradition contained in the book broadens and deepens the cultural heritage of the story collection, which not only promotes the development of British religion, but also injects vitality into British literature.

　　The Canterbury Tales is deeply influenced by the Christian tradition. Christian thought provides a main thread for this complicated and complicated work, while the Bible provides a blueprint for it to describe the various states of life and reveal the essence of the spirit. Chaucer uses the pilgrimage journey as the narrative framework to connect the independent stories of the believers, including legends of saints, romantic love, legends of knights, animal fables and the lives of ordinary people. Almost every story is quoted directly or indirectly. The Bible, or allusions to the story of the Bible, expresses the emphasis on the basic teachings of Christianity, and exposes and ridicules corrupt churches and clergy. Just as the Bible shows man's long and arduous journey back to God after losing the Garden of Eden, the pilgrimage of believers from London to Canterbury also symbolizes man's spiritual journey to find his lost home.

　　Chaucer was deeply influenced by the Italian Renaissance and humanism. The creation of Canterbury Tales was mainly people-centered and tried to fully reflect the British society at that time, thus creating a literary tradition of realism. This work is a collection of European medieval culture and literature, showing a broad picture of life and a portrayal of the real life in medieval England. It is the vivid characters and social reality in the book that endow Christian thought with rich connotations, which made Chaucer. The spiritual exploration in the works is more profound.

　　

　　Conclusion

　　

　　As sung in "The Canterbury Tales", "When April's rain penetrates the dried up roots of March, drenches the stems, touches vitality, and makes buds spring up on the branches; when the wind blows incense. , making the mountains and forests spit out tender sprouts, the sun of youth has turned half of the Aries, Xiaowu sings tunes, sleepy eyes open all night, naturally playing with their heartstrings; at this time, people are eager to worship the Quartet Believers are also determined to travel to foreign lands. Especially in England, they set out from every corner of the state to Canterbury to make pilgrimages to their saviours, the boundless martyrdom of saints.” For thousands of years Come, Canterbury Cathedral's grand and majestic momentum and rich cultural heritage complement each other, attracting pilgrims for a long time. This symbol of religion and power, this gorgeous and spiritual temple, has carried thousands of years of cultural accumulation and witnessed the historical changes of Britain. The magnificent Canterbury Cathedral presents its mysterious tentacles to the world with an extremely rich connotation, and declares its existence with a solemn gesture.