West Frontage, a photo from Staffordshire, England

Photographer's Note

A delve into my archives for a series of pictures featuring Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire, United Kingdom.

Some words about the cathedral from Wikipedia:

The cathedral is dedicated to St Chad and Saint Mary. Its internal length is 113 metres (370 feet), and the breadth of the nave is 21metres (68 feet). The central spire is 77metres (252 feet) high and the western spires are about 58metres (190 feet).

The stone is sandstone and came from a quarry on the south side of Lichfield. The walls of the nave lean outwards slightly, due to the weight of stone used in the ceiling vaulting; some 200–300 tons of which was removed during renovation work to prevent the walls leaning further.

It was built on the site of a wooden Anglo Saxon church, which in its turn had been replaced by Norman cathedral built in stone. Building of the present Gothic cathedral was begun in 1195. It was completed by the building of the Lady Chapel in the 1330s. The Choir dates from 1200, the Transepts from 1220 to 1240 and the Nave was started in 1260. The octagonal Chapter House, which was completed in 1249 and is one of the most beautiful parts of the Cathedral with some charming stone carvings, houses an exhibition of the cathedral's greatest treasure, the Lichfield Gospels, an 8th-century illuminated manuscript.

Lichfield suffered severe damage during the English Civil War in which all of the stained glass was destroyed. In spite of this the windows of the Lady Chapel contain some of the finest medieval Flemish painted glass in existence. Dating from the 1530s it came from the Abbey of Herkenrode in Belgium, in 1801, having been purchased by Brooke Boothby when that abbey was dissolved during the Napoleonic Wars. It was sold on to the cathedral for the same price. There are also some fine windows by Betton and Evans (1819), and many fine late 19th century windows, particularly those by Charles Eamer Kempe.

The cathedral also suffered extensive damage to its fabric. Repairs to the damage caused by the Civil War were not fully completed until the nineteenth century.

pajaran, Fis2, alvaraalto, ikeharel, ChrisJ, pierrefonds, papagolf21, Royaldevon, rychem, PiotrF, Cricri, mcmtanyel has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

emka (158860) 2017-11-28 0:07

Hello Stephen, Magnificent facade of this cathedral in Lichfield. Fantastic rich decoration. Interesting pink colour.

Kind regrads MAlgo

Nicou (193814) 2017-11-28 1:29

Hello

fantastique cadrage et image quel rendu sur la pierre quelle vue et iamge et la rosace et ce tons noir et ocre sueprbe on voit bien les détail à la surface de la façade merveilleux.
Bravo et amitié
Nciou

Fis2 (171961) 2017-11-28 1:47

Witaj Stephen!
Very curious fragment facade of cathedral.
Very interesting details.
Good colors.
Well done.
Nice day.

alvaraalto (42804) 2017-11-28 3:54

Hello Stephen
I like the view with a full focus on the rich ornamented façade of this cathedral and the remarkable contrast of the polluted and less polluted parts of the sandstone.
Have a nice day. Groet Rob

ChrisJ (172436) 2017-11-28 4:28

Hello Stephen

Intricate detail of the human figures and saints, in the facade of this impressive old cathedral. Good sharpness and effective tight framing. The note is interesting. The black tints suggest a fire at one stage. Tfs!

abmdsudi (95869) 2017-11-28 4:48

Hi Stephen
A unique piece of architectural minute detail and good idea by homing in on smaller section of what goes into this imagery. Its quite mind blowing though how my eye is bouncing around and I like the even -diffuse lighting, natural colour and enough good contrast. Technically an excellent shot, and a pleasure to look. Congrats.
Best regards

pierrefonds (115572) 2017-11-28 5:05

Hi Stephen,

The tight frame is putting this section of the cathedral in evidence. The close-up point of view is showing with precision the details of the architecture of the cathedral. The good luminosity is bringing out the colors. Have a nice day.

Pierre

papagolf21 (152607) 2017-11-28 6:16

Bonjour, cher Stephen,
C'est la première fois (il en faut une) que je vois un tel édifice religieux aussi ornementé de la sorte.
Le spectacle est magnifique.
Amitiés.
Philippe

Royaldevon (86480) 2017-11-28 6:29

Hello Stephen,

We all know how hard it is to capture a large building like this and give credence to its wonderful architectural details.
I think you were right to forgo the whole building and capture these extremely unusual but interesting details on the building's facade.
No wonder it took centuries to repair! The sculptures and decorations are so intricate that it would have taken many talented craftsmen to complete just a small portion of the walls! I wonder if there is a catalogue of all the figures on the cathedral's exterior!

My warm regards,
Bev :-)

Sergiom (117241) 2017-11-28 7:52

Bonjour Stephen,

C'est une très bonne idée que d'aller à la recherche de détails sur une devanture de cathédrale, par contre, le travail de post production n'est pas très efficace pour la qualité des détails.

Amicalement

Serge

rychem (72187) 2017-11-28 8:38

Wow, the decoration is really rich and attractive, so many figures, arches and reliefs, a very interesting photo
regards Ryszard

pajaran (117077) 2017-11-28 9:42

Dobro vece.
Lep pogled, interesantan i dobar tekst ...
Lepo pokazana arhitektura i detalji na fasadi, dobar kontrast i ostrina, lepe boje.
Lepa fasada i detalji, lepa Katedrala.
Zelim vam lepu noc, sve najbolje.
Paja.

Good evening.
Nice view, interesting and good text ...
Beautifully shown architecture and details on the facade, good contrast and sharpness, beautiful colors.
Nice façade and details, beautiful Cathedral.
I wish you a nice night, all the best.

Silvio1953 (222959) 2017-11-28 10:08

Ciao Stephen, great detail of fantastic facade, wonderful colors and splendid sharpness, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

PiotrF (56042) 2017-11-28 15:06

Hello Stephen,
Interesting view of facade of cathedral.
I like the architectural details here.
Attractive picture with good sharpness.
Thank you for informative note.
Fine presentation
Regards
Piotr

Tue (93458) 2017-11-28 23:35

Hello Stephen,
Superb photo of the frontage of this beautiful cathedral. The many sculptures and other details are amazing and you captured them with great clarity. I like the warm colour of the cathedral a lot too.
Lars

carlo62 (81265) 2017-11-29 1:02

Ciao Stephen
fantastica questa facciata, una meraviglia da vedere assolutamente.
Bellissima condivisione, mi annoto la città nella cartella dei viaggi da fare.
Saluti
Carlo

Cricri (176) 2017-11-29 9:14

Hello Stephen
Excellent le cadrage serré qui permet d'apprécier les moindres détails et extraordinaire façades aux milles figures,
belle réalisation
Belle soirée
cricri

mcmtanyel (69255) 2017-12-14 20:45

Hello Stephen,
The details of the cathedral are well shown. The sky is a bit too washed out for my taste, but this is easy to fix (I uploaded my attempt to the WS).
Regards,
MT
PS. "Cozy room" is a much cuter term than "keeping room."

[workshop] [compare]