Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral was the first church in England, one of the original Benedictine Monasteries in Europe, and is regarded as the mother church of Anglican Christendom. The original foundations of Canterbury date back to 597 AD. This was the year Saint Augustine came to Kent promoting Benedictine Monasticism. He instigated the building of the first church, a small, rectangular, one-room building. The growth of Canterbury through the following 1000 years was paralleled by the growth and prosperity of the Christian faith in England, and throughout Europe. Despite facing devastating reverses, the cathedral continued on its inexorable path to the center of English faith.
The cathedral’s original architectural style is Norman. After being destroyed by a fire in 1067, the Norman Bishop, Lanfranc, began construction of the present-day cathedral. Lanfranc had the church modeled after French cathedrals of the time, using the new Romanesque style. ...