Durham: Nave, east
Durham: Galilee Chapel
No one seems to know the origin of the word Galilee. According to Canon Talbot:
“Its name of Galilee has probably some reference to Galilee of the Gentiles, and implies that it was considered less sacred than the rest of the Cathedral. St. Cuthbert had a more than monkish fear of women, and they were not allowed to approach the shrine. A cross let into the pavement of the nave at the far west end curiously marks the far-removed spot nearer than which women might not approach. The prejudices of the good saint were thus perpetuated long after his death. The whole effect is light and graceful, and if the women were not allowed to enter farther than the western extremity of the church, they certainly had a most beautiful place of worship.”
The Galilee Chapel is the most beautiful example of Transitional Norman.
“Entering the chapel by the steps leading from the Norman nave, the visitor is at once impressed with the lightness and delicacy of the work before him, as compared with the massive grandeur of the Norman cathedral behind. Here we have, in fact, one of the latest uses of the round arch influenced by the rapidly developing Early English Gothic. In plan the chapel consists of a nave with double aisles, which perhaps might be more properly called five aisles. These are divided by arcades, each of which is of four bays. These arches and the columns which support them are the chief beauty and characteristic of the chapel. The arches are semicircular, of one order, with three lines of chevrons, one on each face, and one on the soffit between two roll mouldings. The capitals are light and graceful and carved with a volute, and the columns clusters of marble and freestone shafts. The whole seems to have been coloured in fresco, and remains of this are still to be seen. The stone shafts, which alternate with those of marble, do not carry any of the weight of the arch, and are, undoubtedly, an addition, probably in the time of Cardinal Langley, when they must have been added, with a view to improving the appearance. The dimensions of the chapel are forty-seven feet from east to west, and seventy-six feet from north to south. The existing roof and the three Perpendicular windows on the west end are also additions by Cardinal Langley. On the walls above what were once the altars of the Virgin and Our Lady of Pity, remains of fresco painting may be noticed, all that remains of what has evidently been beautiful work. These were only brought to light by the removal of successive coats of whitewash with which they had been covered.”—(J. E. B.)
The two doorways at the end of the north aisle and south aisle of the nave were made by Cardinal Langley, who closed up the great West door, reopened in 1846. This was built by Flambard (1099-1128) and consists of an arch of four orders decorated with chevrons. Grotesque animals also appear in medallions. Langley also made a new roof, for which he raised the walls.