Chichester Cathedral
Chichester Cathedral is the only medieval cathedral in England visible from the sea, its elegant spire rising from the West Sussex coastal plain and serving as a navigation mark for vessels entering Chichester Harbour from the English Channel across a tradition extending over eight centuries. The cathedral was founded in the late eleventh century by Bishop Ralph Luffa, who began the current Norman building around 1091, and the subsequent development of the building through Gothic and later phases has produced a cathedral of considerable architectural variety that is distinguished within the English cathedral tradition by its exceptional collection of modern art.
The modern art collection at Chichester is one of the finest in any English cathedral. Works by Graham Sutherland, John Piper and Marc Chagall were commissioned or acquired in the second half of the twentieth century in a deliberate programme of placing contemporary creativity in dialogue with the medieval fabric. The Chagall window in the Trinity Chapel, depicting Psalm 150 in a blaze of jewel-like colour, is one of the finest examples of the artist's stained glass outside France. The Sutherland painting Noli Me Tangere occupies a side chapel with quiet authority, a major work by one of Britain's most significant twentieth-century painters given a setting entirely appropriate to its subject.
The Norman origins of the cathedral are most visible in the nave, where the round arches and massive piers of the twelfth century establish the fundamental architectural character of the building. Two unique Romanesque stone reliefs set into the south aisle wall, depicting the Raising of Lazarus and Christ's arrival at Bethany, are among the finest pieces of Norman figure sculpture in England and rank as important works of art in the wider European tradition of Romanesque carving.
The detached bell tower, the only surviving detached medieval cathedral campanile in England, stands in the close to the northwest of the cathedral and adds a further architectural note to a close of considerable historic charm. The nearby Pallant House Gallery with its outstanding collection of twentieth-century British art makes Chichester one of the most rewarding destinations in the south of England for those interested in art across the centuries.