Revealing a masterpiece of the Romanesque
LAST week, Athena visited Lincoln Cathedral and its new museum gallery in Lincolnshire, the last element of a £16 million project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. In part, this has improved visitor facilities; what was previously part of Lincoln Minster School has become a café, garden and reception area. It has also involved extensive conservation and cleaning work to the cathedral’s extraordinary west front, which is now rapidly emerging from scaffolding.
What makes the conclusion of this project particularly important in a cultural sense is that the restored façade and museum make accessible after many decades one of the great artistic treasures of this extraordinary building.
Between 1072 and 1075, the seat of a vast diocese across central and eastern England was transferred from Dorchester, Oxfordshire, to Lincoln. The monumental new cathedral created as its seat incorporated an entrance modelled on a Roman triumphal arch and space for a decorative frieze. Confusingly, it was not until the early 12th century that a series of sculpted panels of Ancaster stone were inserted into that space. Some of the carving was probably done before the panels were installed, but parts were certainly carved in position.
They present scenes from the Last Judgement and narratives from the Old Testament. In England, where so little Romanesque figurative sculpture survives and even less remains in its original context, the significance of the frieze on a building of such importance is hard to exaggerate.
About 40 years ago, it became a matter of concern that the sculpture was deteriorating rapidly. Conservation in 1983 confirmed the parlous condition of the panels and resulted in all but one on the left half of the façade being taken into the cathedral; the originals were replaced with copies. At the same time, the sculpture to the right was boxed in for protection and has been obscured ever since. The present project has provided the opportunity to expose these carvings, conserve and examine them (we now know, for example, from scientific examination, that they were painted).
It was initially unclear whether the remaining sculpture would need to be replaced on the façade, so a complete series of copies was commissioned from four leading carvers: Martin Coward, Tim Crawley, Andrian Melka and Alan Micklethwaite. In the event, only one panel was removed. Today, as a result, the modern visitor can once again enjoy the whole frieze—including many original sculptures. They can also scrutinise the complete frieze of removed originals and unused copies in the new museum.
After nearly 40 years, it’s wonderful to see this cycle of Romanesque sculpture returned to view. The challenge now will be to monitor the condition of the exposed originals for the future.
The significance of the frieze on a building of such importance is hard to exaggerate