Lincoln Cathedral Nave (looking West)

Beautiful.

Thank you Eric (or maybe the compliment is to the cathedral!).

Its imposing. You have given it real presence.

@awty Thanks. I wanted to try to show the scale of the building. It is such a vast space. That’s why I left a lot of space in front of the chairs

Stunning, simply stunning. Great job Svenedin, great job.

Svenedin, when i retired I was a Construction Manager for the cellular industry . . . any contractor of that caliber would have been summarily fired and told to never come back LOL!

When you consider the mass of these buildings, and the number of years it took to build them, it is amazing that there are not more 'corrections' needed. No laser levels in those days. And no soil strength tests, as those folks in Pisa came to realize!

The light seems really even. Was that down to the snow reflecting it?

@John Galt Thank you John. Haha. Yes, but it would be hard to find these guys over 800 years later......Actually Lincoln cathedral was largely destroyed in an earthquake in 1185. Only the lower part of the West front and towers survives from the previous cathedral (completed in 1090). This picture is looking towards that West front. Presumably it was difficult to rebuild and line up correctly with what was still standing (you can see the Western arch does not line up). I don't really know and would have to look into it in more detail. It is quite common to see vaulting "wander" in the ancient cathedrals. They are not as perfect as they look at first glance.

@grahamp Although it was snowing I think it is more to do with the fact that it was very overcast, with a cloud base starting at about 80 feet (so that the upper parts of the cathedral were actually in cloud). I presume that acted as a gigantic diffuser of very soft light.

Yes, they did actually collapse. Ely cathedral had the central and North West towers collapse. This left a gaping hole in the crossing of the church. They didn't quite know what to do. A dome was considered too Eastern (or perhaps too difficult) so they constructed the famous Octagon (which although massive is much lighter than a central tower). Beauvais cathedral in France is another example. They built far too high and most collapsed. What remains is supported to this day by gigantic buttresses, some wooden and internal. Wells cathedral in the UK started to "spread" and the arches were in danger of collapse so the masons came up with the ingenious inverted scissor arches to stop this. Lincoln itself has a tower which is leaning. Exeter cathedral has vaulting that wanders so much you would think the builders were permanently drunk.

@Svenedin

"...you would think the builders were permanently drunk." That was reportedly the case in that long era.