Salisbury Cathedral (Salisbury Cathedral)

Member Name: caro

Product:	Salisbury Cathedral
Date:	09/09/00 (76 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful; interesting guided tours

Disadvantages: Compulsory prayers

Although it's annoying to be charged an admission fee to visit a cathedral, in this case it's good value as a guided tour is included. The tour highlights many features of the cathedral that would otherwise be overlooked, and makes the visit very interesting.

The cathedral building is beautiful. Having been built all at one period, it has a glorious unity. It is also very light: most of the windows are plain, rather than stained, glass. The tour provides some suprising information about it: in particular, the tower and famous spire were built some time after the rest of the cathedral, and their weight has actually bent the pillars supporting them. (The tower isn't about to fall down: the problem was solved about 50 years after they were built by the addition of internal buttresses, but the top of the spire is now about 3 feet from where it should be).

Other features include the oldest clock still working (it works by chiming the hours, and does not have a face); an engraved glass prism showing three views of the cathedral; the modern stained glass windows; effigies including that of a standard bearer at the Battle of Bosworth who was over 7 feet tall.

One grating moment was the compulsory prayer, broadcast over loudspeakers. The assertion that this reminded visitors the place was more than a tourist attraction was at odds with the compulsory entry charge, and an encouragement to take the opportunity for private prayer if one wished would have been more appropriate. The cathedral does exploit its status as tourist attraction, so must be aware that not all visitors are christians or wish to take part in prayers.

The restaurant is worth visiting even if you don't take a tour of the cathedral. The food was excellent, both for lunch and afternoon tea; the surroundings were lovely. Altogether, I would recommend a visit to this cathedral which does fully justify its entry charge.

Summary: