Looking up in Canterbury Cathedral

  

   This is the fan ceiling over the nave in Canterbury Cathedral. The only tools available to create this in the 1300s would have been a hammer, a chisel, some measuring tools, and wooden scaffolding. Masons would have lain on their backs for up to 12 hours a day, using the crude tools to shape this amazing ceiling.  How long did it take, I wonder.  What did they think about when the chips and dust were falling on them?  The fan-shaped vaulting carries the weight of the 235-foot high ceiling to the foundations of the cathedral, which you can see more of in the photo below.  It just takes my breath away.

   I've been working on the photo album from my March trip to London and Paris.  I taught British Lit. and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for many years, but this was the first time I had seen Canterbury Cathedral.  It was my first trip to Canterbury and my last trip with students as I was retiring in May.  I will never forget the feeling of sitting under that ceiling and staring up at the glory man can create when he uses his talent for good.