Floored

Here's a bottom-up tour of Christ Church Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in Dublin. Construction began in 1083 by King Sitric Silkenbeard, a Danish Viking who ruled over the kingdom of Dublin. Henry II visited here in 1171. It was the first place he took Communion since the murder of Thomas Becket.

According to the sign nearby, "This was the chapter house of the Augustinian canons whose priory was at Christ Church from 1163 to 1537 AD."


We'll begin our tour in the crypt. We weren't allowed to take photos in most of it, but I have a couple of the area we were allowed to take them in.

This crypt is the largest in all of the British Isles--63.4 meters long. It was constructed in 1172 and houses some of the oldest secular carvings in Ireland. It also has a mummified cat and rat that got caught in the organ while one was chasing the other. James Joyce mentions them in Finnegan's Wake, where a character is referred to as being "as stuck as that cat to that mouse in that tube of that Christchurch organ."

These are not the secular carvings. But we were allowed to take photos of them.


These stocks were made in 1670 and moved to the cathedral in 1870. Another reason why I love Europe: "Sure, go ahead and touch the centuries-old-stuff. We've got plenty more where it came from!"


That concludes the crypt section of the tour. Moving on to the main floor...

The most amazing thing in this cathedral was the floor. It had me "floored!" (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) Here are some photos of it:








This is an effigy of Richard de Clare, a.k.a. Strongbow. The original tomb was destroyed in 1562 when the roof of the cathedral collapsed. His remains are now buried in Ferns Cathedral in Fern, Ireland. He was constantly fighting for his right to the kingship of Leinster, and in the process ended up giving all of his lands and castles to Henry II. His effigy was used as "the venue for legal agreements" from the 16th to 18th centuries. I find this a rather odd use for an effigy.

This box and metal heart contain the remains of the actual heart of Lorcán Ua Tuathail, better known as St. Laurence O'Toole. He was the Archbishop of Dublin from 1162 to 1180. He helped the poor during famines, helped with another church reform movement, et cetera, et cetera. His niece was the wife of Strongbow. So many miracles happened at his tomb that he was canonized in only 45 years. His bones disappeared during the Reformation, but his heart remains. One of the cool stories about him was that he was giving mass at the shrine of Thomas Becket when a man leapt up and attacked him, trying to kill him in the same place that Thomas Becket had been murdered. Lorcán was clubbed in the head and was knocked out. When he came to, Lorcán got up, brushed himself off, and finished mass like nothing had happened.

Moving up from the floor, here we have photos of the interior at wall-height.





I thought these arches were particularly neat (above). I've been in several cathedrals this semester, and none of them have used zig-zags!



This used to be at the top of one of the columns. I thought it was a really interesting carving.




The requisite stained glass window picture. There were several windows; this photo came out the best.

Here we have the ceilings.




Ta-daa! Th-th-th-that's all, folks!