Introduction

These treasures vary from the fine workmanship and creativity of stone and wooden carvings to stained glass to paintings in our side chapels to gold and silverware in our Treasury.

Wall painting

Some highlights include the following:

• Roof Bosses. These are unique in number and quality. Over 1000 beautifully carved medieval stone sculptures, set in the vaults of the Cathedral and the Cloister, depict scenes and characters from the Bible, incidents from the lives of the saints, themes from everyday life and images of the mysterious Green Man, set within the context of medieval Norwich.
• Misericords. There is an abundance of fascinating carvings on the underside of the seats in the Choir. These carved ledges are known as 'misericords’ because they provided merciful relief to the monks as they stood for hours in prayer. These carvings are mainly from the 15th and 16th centuries and reveal a world of imagery and an insight into the musings of the medieval mind. Three newer misericords were added in the 20th century to commemorate the Millennium.
• Panel paintings. Norwich Cathedral has many English medieval paintings on wood including the St Saviour's Chapel Altarpiece, made up from rescued fragments of vanished rood screens; the Despenser Reredos, once used as a table; and fragments of a further altarpiece in St Andrew’s and Holy Innocents’ chapels. The Jesus Chapel has the Adoration of the Magi by the late 15th-century North German painter Martin Schwartz.
• Wall Paintings. Significant fragments of the 12th-century decorative scheme survive and some important early 14th-century wall paintings on the vault of the Treasury.
• Church Plate. Norwich Cathedral Treasury houses a large collection of Altar Silver, mainly made in the famous Norwich workshops, on loan from parishes in the diocese .
• Seven Sacraments Font. This came from the now vanished church of St Mary in the Marsh. 
• Stained Glass. The Cathedral has a large collection of stained glass from the 19th to the 21st century.
• Lectern.The Pelican Lectern escaped the Reformation and was found years later buried in the Bishop's Garden; it is used daily for the reading of Scripture at Evensong. 
   

Pelican lectern

To find out more

We run special interest tours for groups called Art and Architecture which focus on the architecture and many works of art which adorn the Cathedral. These tours need to be pre-booked. Please contact Susan Brown (01603 218300) for information.