Lincoln Cathedral marks its 950th birthday

It was once the world’s tallest building, has become Hollywood’s go-to ‘Westminster Abbey’, and has been described as the “most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles”.

Fittingly for this year’s milestone 950th anniversary, Lincoln Cathedral’s west front is now scaffold-free for the first time in decades, thanks to the completion of conservation work, which also restored and cleaned a world-class Romanesque frieze, now fully revealed in all its glory.

Skilled stonemasons spent the last three years working on the original frieze panels on its west front, as well as creating a copy, now on display in a newly opened visitor centre.

The original, which depicts scenes from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, is said to be the longest and most intact narrative frieze in Western Europe.

Probably carved between 1120-1160, the frieze runs right across the facade of the building. During the 1990s the worn north side panels were removed for conservation and replaced with replica sculptures, and the originals displayed inside the Cathedral.

In 2018, renovation work began on the southern frieze panels – 40 years after they were first covered with protective boxes – as well as on creating a full set of replica carvings of the nine southern panels.

One of Europe’s finest Gothic buildings, the Cathedral is set within the cobbled streets of Lincoln’s historic heart and is one of two Norman gems standing opposite each other across a picturesque square.

Just steps away is Lincoln Castle, built more than 950 years ago, and today home to the Magna Carta Vault, containing one of only four surviving original Magna Carta documents from 1215.

It also offers spectacular views across the city from the Medieval Wall Walk.

lincolncathedral.com. visitlincolnshire.com