After our trip to Trinity College, Josh, Austin, Jazmin, Peter, Adam and I made our way to the Christ Church Cathedral. This building was built as a Roman Catholic church in 1028 by a Norse king in Dublin. Originally made of wood, it was rebuilt in stone, with the addition of a crypt in the 1180s. Several rulers had a hand in expanding and altering the layout of this Cathedral, changing it bit by bit into what we see today. In 1539, King Henry VII converted it to a Cathedral during his reform of Irish religion, and today it is used by the Church of Ireland. Stylistically, it contains elements of both Romanesque and Gothic architecture, with a simpler, Romanesque outside and steeple, and Gothic ribbed vaults and flying buttresses. We had the good luck of coming in as a choir concert was going on, and got to sit in the pews and listen to them sing. The acoustics of the church were lovely, and it was great to get to see it in use for one of the many things it was designed for. We took a stroll down by the crypt, and got to admire the the groin vault architecture, as well as the several different gilded collection plates.
I thoroughly enjoyed visiting this church. The mix of architecture styles and the amount of light coming in was lovely, not to mention getting to hear the choir was great. I also got a chance to draw the inside of the cathedral, which was lots of fun and good practice with perspective