Wednesday 11 July 2007

Land of Arthur--WInchester Cathedral


While not related to Arthuriana, this stained glass window in the Cathedral is an amazingly beautiful work of art. But look closely: the stained glass was destroyed during the English Civil War; the legend is that Cromwell's soldiers destroyed the massive window. But parishioners picked up the shards of glass that formerly depicted saints and, during the restoration, restored the great window as a mosaic. It is startlingly modern looking--with an occasional partial figure of a saint. Now it is a beautiful abstract mosaic of glass and an incredible testament to the parishioners who literally "picked up the pieces" and made new art from the shards of the old.