Heaven on Earth: The Lives and Legacies of the World's Greatest Cathedrals

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Further west, Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset joined the building spree after a fire in 1184 destroyed the existing building. But while much that was Romanesque continued to characterise other churches in the area, it was Wells that began a different, more Gothic course. By the time its nave was nearing completion in c.1240, the Early English Gothic style had evolved, with its preference for plainer decoration. Yet the ornate motifs once overlooked were gaining distinction throughout the West Country. More than architectural biographies, Wells shares the human stories of triumph and tragedy to take us from the chaotic atmosphere of the mason’s yard to the cloisters of power; revealing how 1000 years of cathedral-building shaped modern Europe, and influenced art, culture and society around the world. The interior of the Abbey Church of St-Denis, just outside Paris. It was here, during renovation work from 1137, that already existing elements of what we now call Gothic – including the pointed arches and ribbed vaulting shown here – were brought together as a ‘unified whole’. Chartres was also renovated after a fire in 1134, with a new great western entrance flanked by two square towers (shown here). Flying buttresses that allowed the cathedral to reach soaring heights are visible along the outside wall on the left. Her next book, Heaven On Earth: The Lives & Legacies of the World’s Greatest Cathedrals, will be published by Head of Zeus in July 2022. [25] She is currently working on her third book about relic merchants, who bought and sold their way through the churches of medieval Christendom.

Wells, Emma J. (2017) 'Kipling through the Archives’ and ‘Historic Buildings Analysis’, in Brightman, J. (ed.) Charting Chipeling: The Archaeology of the Kiplin Estate. North Yorkshire. Solstice Heritage, 6–17; 31–50. ISBN 978-0993310607 Dr. Emma is a renowned academic, author and broadcaster within the topics of ecclesiastical & architectural history. She received her BA (Hons) in History of Art and her MA (Dist.) in Buildings Archaeology from the University of York, following up with a PhD from Durham University which focussed on archaeological aspects of pilgrimage in the English medieval church. their intelligence – this makes a huge difference for a speaker. In the Oxford audience I encountered many experts in the field my book covered and even one of the ambassadors I’d quoted Charting Chipeling to investigate archaeology of the Kiplin Estate | The National Lottery Heritage Fund". www.heritagefund.org.uk. 1 November 2013.I loved the whole atmosphere of the Oxford Literary Festival. From breakfast, alongside some of the attendees, who were talking books with each other a mile a minute, to the public event at The Sheldonian where everyone was lively and engaged – I felt I had arrived in a kind of literary heaven. The nave of Wells Cathedral, with one of the strainer arches – and their apertures resembling owl eyes – installed by William Joy at the central tower. PHOTO: Emma Wells. I soon felt that this cathedral was, somehow, mine. It was an odd sense of ownership, given that my stint in Cambridge was only a year long, and that Catholic worship had ceased there some 500 years earlier. But perhaps this is, after all, the point of cathedrals. Embedded in the local, they point to the universal and remind us that the communion of the Church is not a series of local franchises of a larger corporation, but living (and hopefully lively) communities of the faithful, sharing in the communion of the wider Church. The rebuilding of Canterbury Cathedral following the fire of 1174 is a project we can still experience today. Over a million people from across the globe are welcomed through the doors at Canterbury every year.But this is just one story. Emma J. Wells has written an accessible, authoritative and lavishly illustrated account of the building of 16 of the world's greatest cathedrals * Spectator *

WELLS, EMMA (30 January 2013). An Archaeology of Sensory Experience: Pilgrimage in the Medieval Church, c.1170-c.1550 (Doctoral). Durham University – via etheses.dur.ac.uk. Every literary festival stays in an author’s mind for slightly individual reasons. I shall remember the Oxford festival for: She is a Guardian for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and a member of the Hexham and Newcastle Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC). [5] Wells is also the secretary and assistant editor for the Society for Church Archaeology. [6] Early life and education [ edit ] Between 2018 and 2021, Wells was appointed a Research Associate of the Department for Archaeology at the University of York. In September 2021, she was appointed as Research Fellow of the Department for Archaeology at Durham University. She was promoted to Lecturer in Ecclesiastical and Architectural History at the University of York in 2019. [3]Saunders, Tristram Fane (8 March 2019). "Period drama's professional pedants: what do historical advisers actually do?". The Telegraph– via www.telegraph.co.uk. It is beautifully illustrated, with a helpful ground plan at the beginning of each chapter. The premise is that Europe’s great cathedrals tell the story of Christianity. Specifically, in her introduction, Wells argues that “these great multifaceted buildings were attempts to make the spiritual concrete”, and “represent symbolic voyages between this world and the next”. Perhaps we could have learned a little more about the goodness of those who, against all the odds, caused these ambitious, beautiful, and holy buildings to be built to transport us to heaven.