Thursday 10 January 2008

Measuring up to St Peter

Our Cathedral receives its honourable mention on the nave floor of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, where its length is listed as 110 metres - interestingly enough, just a hair's breath longer than Haghia Sophia, mentioned next to it. Which provides a good excuse to show the mosaic of said Haghia Sophia from St Andrew's Chapel - recording the legend that St Andrew was first bishop of Constantinople (or Byzantium, as it was called in his day). It's a fine design of the Great Church and the imperial city (for more information, cf here and here).

4 comments:

John the organist said...

We'll be there next month when we go with the choir to sing Dvorak's Requiem.

Jude said...

HEY! That picture in St. Peter's looks "vaguely" familiar. I shall be awaiting credit for my fabulous photography skills...JH

Anonymous said...

Supposedly, Francis Cardinal Spellman of New York, who at the time was the leading and most powerful churhman in America, was in St Peters with Pope John XXIII observing all the world's cathedral lengths on the floor. Spellman could not find his cathedral, St Patrick's. Pope John replied, "We did not put in the marker. It would have been the smallest one!"

Mark Langham said...

Hi Jude - it's all my own work, taken last October!!