Ely Cathedral's Lady Chapel: Devotion and Destruction | HENI Talks

Ely Cathedral’s Lady Chapel was one of the most splendid artistic and architectural achievements of medieval England. The Catholic chapel’s lavishly painted sculpture and stained glass, devoted to the Virgin Mary, moved pilgrims to a religious frenzy. But when Protestants began to call for a ‘purer’ vision of the Christian faith in the 16th and 17th centuries, this same quality triggered repulsion. During the hundred years of the English Reformation, the chapel was scraped, scrubbed and smashed of its extravagance.

Art Historian Paul Binski believes it is possible to recover the Lady Chapel’s former opulence in the imagination. His talk gives an insight into the psychology behind Ely’s splendour, and the idea that art can be so powerful as to provoke violence – something we still see in headlines today.

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[monicacall]

The iconoclasm of Henry VIII and Edward VI was criminal in my opinion. I’m glad that they didn’t tear the building down.

[tamvan]

Beautiful England . We might as well to see this huge church was destroied a part . What a pity . Thanks a lot for the film. The MC is very cute, lovely . Thanks

[martaacosta]

It wouldn’t be enough, in my mind, to merely use the imagination to reconstruct the chapel, nor even to give thoughtful, informative talks on it, such as this presentation which is indeed fascinating. It seems that anything less than a true reconstruction of the chapel, rebuilding as close as possible to the original splendor, is unworthy of the Blessed Mother, who, as She told us at Fatima, is offended enough already.