Just another museum?
The Cathedral’s architecture is justly famous, its history fascinating and its collection of art and objects outstanding. The Cathedral certainly deserves its five star rating as a tourist attraction. But this is no museum, it is a living centre for worship, welcome and learning.
Sometimes visitors to the Cathedral express surprise, occasionally annoyance, that services are being held; they thought they were coming to some historic monument in the hands of English Heritage or the National Trust.
Highlights of this section
Norwich Cathedral has a long and colourful history. This section gives you a wealth of information including the following.
- When and why it was built
- Key events in our 900 year history
- People who have played a key role
- Recent discoveries made about our past while building the new Hostry and Refectory
- Our interactive timeline enables you to set developments at the Cathedral in their historical context,
- Our new fly-through movie shows you how the Cathedral and Close looked in 1250 and how it developed between then and now
- The architecture section puts the Cathedral and Close in their architectural context
- The archaeology section shows you how remnants of buildings from our past are still part of today’s Cathedral and Close as well as teaching us about the lives of our predecessors
- The conservation section takes you behind the scenes and shows how traditional skills are still used to maintain the fabric of the Cathedral and Close
- The beautiful art and collections we have here both old and new
To explain some of the technical terms used, we have prepared a glossary which can be reached from the footer on every page.
A living place
Please do not think of the Cathedral as another historic monument, a sterile building full of beautiful things. This is a living place. The building itself, and all the beautiful art and objects it houses, are here for a purpose; that purpose is as valid today as it was in 1096 - to inspire people to glorify God and to build a bridge between God and his people. The Cathedral does not just look back, it looks forward. That is why we commission new works of art like the Millennium Window in the north Transept and why we build new buildings like the Refectory and the Hostry.
Norwich Cathedral is part of England’s history, and its fabric and contents consitute fine art. However its essence is its spiritual power. To admire the Cathedral simply for its history or its beauty is like admiring a picture for its frame.