The ceiling of Southwark Cathedral, London, August 2017
The sweeping ceiling on a candlelit evening is striking in both its simplicity and its grace.
This Cathedral has a very long history, starting out as home to a community of nuns, probably as long ago as the 7th century. Needless to say it has undergone many destructions, collapses, rebuilds and renovations in those times.
The ceiling is no exception. It is known that the stone roof of the church collapsed in 1469, to be replaced by a carved wooden structure. No plain ceiling was suitable for medieval times, as can be seen from the wooden bosses below; relics from that replacement roof. And have you any idea who the character at top right is?
It is the Devil swallowing Judas Iscariot!
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Copyright Debbie Smyth, 31 August 2017
Posted as part of Structure
Travel with Intent 
Beautiful! Loved what your wrote and your photos!
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I find church and cathedral ceilings just incredible – especially given the tools and knowledge they had available when they began building most of them. If only many modern structures were given as much care and attention when they were built (although perhaps not time!!)
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I know what you mean.
I live in St Albans which has a wonderful Abbey with gorgeous ceilings.
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Just beautiful 🙂 A wonderful evening
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It certainly was. Hopefully a few great images.
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Glorious! Southwark is one of the most extraordinary cathedrals I’ve ever visited. I went to a charity do there in the late ’80s and it was without parallel as a venue.
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Yes it’s a great place. It has a long history and is a very welcoming place. You can get a photography licence at any time and every few months they run candlelit evenings for photography.
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Beautiful clicks!
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Fascinating structure ….
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I can’t even imagine how you start to build something like that!
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Me neither!
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Ha! I was thinking not someone I’d want to meet on a dark night! 🙂 🙂
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Your intuition works well!
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