Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin
The temple’s further history all the way till XIX century is a history of destructions and restorations. The original tower and parts of the western nave were destroyed by a fire in 1362, but by 1370 they were rebuilt. In 1537, when the Reformation began all the images of the saints standing in the niches of the choir were destroyed on Tomas Cromwell’s order, and all the temple’s possessions and lands were confiscated by the state.
In 1544, the roof of the central nave collapsed. King Edward VI (1547-1553) gave means for its restoration and new painting in the temple but lowered its status down to the level of a parish church. The Saint Patrick’s Temple regained its title of a cathedral in 1555, however, it was becoming harder and harder to maintain such a huge temple under conditions of unceasing political and religious opinions. The Holy Virgin’s chapel by the beginning of XVII century was already in ruins, and the temple’s capitul readily embraced a proposal to use French Huguenots who fled to Ireland escaping religious persecution in the end of XVI – the beginning of XVII centuries for church services. The chapel was restored on their means and on April 29, 1666, Sunday, the first protestant service in French took place here. Descendants of emigrants-Huguenots continued to use the chapel that received the name of “the French Church” – L’Eglise Francaise, – all the way until 1816.
In the meantime, the temple’s condition continued to worsen. In 1668-1671, after monarchy was restored in England, they managed somehow to remodel the roof, to strengthen the structures that had become desolate and to replace some of the windows. In 1680s, the choir was restored. But these extraordinary measures could not slow down the temple’s inevitable decay; besides, in 1687-1792, the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral several times seriously suffered from floods. As a result in 1792 services temporarily stopped to be held there: the southern art and roof of the nave threatened to fall down at any time; the northern transept was already in ruins, while the southern one was on the brink of destruction.
The first real attempt to revive the temple of Ireland was undertaken by Dean Pakenham (1843-1864). He restored the Holy Virgin’s chapel and lowered the floor level to the original one by removing centuries-long layers. But only in 1860s, real restoration works began; they enabled to bring this splendid monument of Irish medieval architecture to life.
The temple gained its modern appearance in XIX century. In its layout the Saint Patrick has the form of a Latin cross. Its total length is 74 meters (242.7 ft), while the central nave’s length is 40 meters (131.2 ft). The tower rising over the temple is famous for the fact that in 1560 the first tower clocks in Dublin were established on it.
Today, as one marvels at the colors’ shades softened by streams of dispersed light flowing from the stained glass windows it is hard to imagine that in XVII century stables were located in the temple for Oliver Cromwell’s Protestant army. The baptistery at the entrance into the temple is the only part of the building of John Comyn’s time (XII century) preserved to this day. Its walls are decorated with dark-blue geometric patterns; the vaults are whitewashed, while the three stained glass windows shine with red and yellow colors. The floor is laid with medieval plates found during the temple’s restoration in XIX century.
In contrast with emphasized simplicity of the baptistery is the furniture of the Holy Virgin’s temple: its bluish- grey walls with cream-colored arch ribs are supported by thin pillars of dark grey stone. Five arrow-shaped windows with colorful stained glasses shed light on the white stone altar.
The stained glasses of the main, western, window of the temple are dedicated to the scenes from the life of Saint Patrick. In the interior several medieval tombstones and monuments of New Time including the tombstone of Douglas Hyde, the first president of Ireland, got preserved. But the main focus of attention, of course, is a sculptural monument to Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) – a famous writer, the author of “The Adventures of Gulliver,” buried in the central nave of the temple. A native of Dublin, in 1699, Swift became a priest in Larakor parish (Meath County) and in the next year was appointed one of the canons of the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. In 1713, he was elected as Dean of the temple and remained in this office until his death. In the history of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral he is famous for his extraordinary conscientiousness. In spite of the temple’s miserable condition Swift maintained proper order in it and daily held services; he restored several monuments that had become desolate; on his own means he founded an asylum for elderly women in Dublin.
One of the points of note of the temple is a hole cut in the door in the capitul hall. It appeared in 1492 and relates to the history of a conflict between the Earl of Kildare and the Earl of Ormond. Having been defeated, the Earl of Ormond selected the capitul hall of the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral as a shelter and fearing for his life refused to go outside. When the parties reached a peace agreement, Lord Kildare made a hole in the door to shake hands with his suspicious adversary.
The Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is famous for its musical traditions. The biggest organ in Ireland is set here, while the Saint Patrick’s choir school was founded here as early as in 1432. Today it is the only temple in Ireland, in which two daily services are accompanied with singing of a choir.
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