Roman Catholic Cathedral

We finally made it to the RC Cathedral in Norwich today. The weather has been dull all day, and it was still overcast when we stepped inside the building. All of the rear part of the building was in gloom; the light was all up the front, most of it natural, some of it artificial.
It takes a good deal of time to find the detail in this large building. Unlike many churches, where things stand out the moment you enter, my first impression of this place was of the immense columns holding up the ceiling arches, columns a good metre or more in diameter. Only later on did I realise that each one has a different floral design around its base. And only later on did I realise there were small sculptured heads lining the walls. And that there were gargoyles on the outside of the building. Nothing seems to hit you at first; there’s just this lovely sense of peace. The place was empty apart from one man who sat in the pew for most of our visit, barely moving.
This isn’t a fussy church, somehow. There aren’t bits and pieces going off in various directions; instead there are a couple of small altars - maybe three - at the sides of the original main altar, and these are gloriously decorative affairs, Byzantine in their colour schemes. The main altar has been left isolated because of the shift in thinking about the altar being closer to the people, and the priest facing them. Consequently there’s a large gap between the painted screens that would have been behind the altar originally, and where the main altar is now.
There’s a sunken chapel off to one side, sunken in the sense that the floor is lower than that of the main building. And there are plans in the making to extend the building considerably out at one side. One part of the wall - two or three metres across - is going to be opened up and a new section built outside. This will include a shop, toilets, baby rooms and so on. It will also destroy the design of the building, but needs must, I suppose. Except that there’s an awful lot of space inside the building now, and somehow I can’t see it being filled to overflowing every Sunday.
The stained glass is lovely: there are two kinds. One is very demure, quiet, and almost colourless. You only see the patterning when you get up closer. The other is full of colour, with hundreds of pieces of coloured glass making up the pictures. It’s not the usual stained glass colouring somehow, but something much brighter and more cheerful which gives off a kaleidoscope effect. The main door is glass too, a wonderful smoky glass.
Outside, the building seems to be in a bit of trouble. Whatever stone has been used (and the building is only just over a 100 years old) is crumbling badly in places. The gargoyles are in for a fall if they’re not careful.
We wended our way down St Giles St (think it’s a Street) and came across an excellent secondhand bookshop, which had a copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I’d seen a copy of this in the Oxfam shop in Yarmouth (if I remember rightly) and had decided it was too expensive. I should have bought it as I’ve had trouble finding a copy ever since. It’s still a very popular book. Not sure why I want to read it, except that it’s one of those books that sticks in your mind and you keep saying…I must read that someday.