Latest news with #CanterburyCathedral
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The pretty city dubbed 'Paris of the UK' - with a stunning cathedral, quaint shops and even many French patisseries
A British city has been described as the 'Paris of the UK' and could be the staycation hotspot of 2025. Home to cobbled streets, artisan shops and a historic cathedral, Canterbury is the UK's very own City of Lights, according to some travellers. TikToker 'siti_shoots' posted a video of her visit to Canterbury, telling her followers: 'If you want a Parisian vibe but don't want to go abroad, you should go here.' The TikToker shows off Canterbury's pretty cobbled streets in her video and even visits a French bakery. So, what are Canterbury's must-see attractions? Canterbury Cathedral is the city's best-rated attraction on Tripadvisor and was founded by St Augustine in 597 AD. The Cathedral's incredible stained glass windows are a highlight while its crypt is home to a painted chapel that was hidden for centuries. And it might just give Notre Dame a run for its money. In a five star review on Google Reviews, a visitor wrote: 'The Cathedral is just the beginning of this wonderful UNESCO heritage site. Take time to marvel at the stained glass windows on multiple levels. 'Do not miss the crypt, the Chapter House with its amazing ceiling, the exhibit in the water tower, the peaceful herb garden and cloister. These are all beautiful and there are peaceful places to marvel, meditate and/or pray.' Located in the heart of Canterbury's historic district, The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge is the city's best-rated art gallery. Housed in a Grade II listed building, the gallery has stained glass windows and a collection of 16th century Dutch oil paintings. If it's a sunny day, tourists can head for a walk in Canterbury's Westgate Gardens and visit its Physic Garden or watch the River Stour pass by. And when it comes to Parisian-style food, there's one French bakery that tourists won't want to miss. Cafe St Pierre serves French pastries, baguettes and can be easily spotted by the French flag hanging outside its door. A visitor wrote on Tripadvisor: 'Everything tastes exquisite and the service is always good. Everything about Café St Pierre is authentically French.' And another visitor said: 'If you ever find yourself wandering the charming streets of Canterbury with a craving for a genuine French experience, Cafe St. Pierre is an absolute must-visit. 'This delightful little cafe embodies a distinctly French atmosphere, transporting patrons straight to the heart of Paris with its cozy and inviting ambiance.' Looking to escape the UK instead? The cheapest destination for a weekend break has pints for just £1.75.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
The Kent city named best place to live less than an hour from London
As the days get longer, you might be looking at taking more weekend breaks. London has great public transport links to practically anywhere in the UK, making destination options endless. But if you would prefer a quick journey to your getaway, then you are in luck. The historical city of Canterbury is less than an hour from central London and offers a wealth of activities to enjoy over a long weekend. Plus, it was previously named the best place to live in Kent by the popular website Muddy Stilettos. A train journey to Canterbury takes just over 50 minutes from St Pancras, or for a slightly cheaper but slower option, you can catch a train from Victoria Station that takes an hour and a half. Canterbury is well known for its deep historical roots, with medieval and Roman connections that still exist today. With Roman walls surrounding the city centre and the Westgate towers welcoming you on arrival, you see the city's rich history from the moment you arrive. Canterbury Cathedral is the region's most iconic landmark, with its grand style, being the oldest Christian structure in England and also being part of the World Heritage Site. Along with the city's history, there is also a great shopping scene, from the Fenwick department store to a large Primark and endless amounts of independent and quirky shops. Recommended Reading 5 of the best places for a weekend getaway from London Visit the village of Chilham for the perfect weekend getaway The beautiful Kent village less than an hour from London for a weekend trip And you won't go hungry, with plenty of choices for food, whether a quick meal from City Fish Bar or a bottomless brunch from The Drapers Arms. Away from the busy shopping scene, you can enjoy more calm activities like taking a walk through Dane John Garden or along the river at the Westgate Gardens. Plus, you can even take a boat ride on the River Stour with a number of companies offering a tour, including Westgate Punts, Canterbury Punting Company and Canterbury Historic River Tours.
The Hindu
22-04-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Painting with light: The enduring allure of stained glass
It's houseful at The Bangalore Room, Indiranagar, on the evening of Easter, 2025. To the packed audience, Asad Hajeebhoy, renowned stained glass artist and founder of Glasscrafters Studio, poses a question. 'Which metal oxide gives a rich red while colouring glass?' The crowd starts guessing — 'cadmium, iron...' No one lands the right answer. And then the artist takes everyone by surprise. 'Gold,' he reveals. And it's a snapshot of what makes stained glass art, an interplay between light and colour, magical. Hajeebhoy, who has to date worked with around 13 churches in Bengaluru to install or restore stained glass art, has spent a large part of his career in educating people about this centuries-old artform. A complex art form Stained glass art, which was largely popularised by churches in Europe in the medieval period, is believed to have its origins in Syria. Some of the earliest examples of stained glass work can be found at the Canterbury Cathedral in England, the Augsburg Cathedral in Germany and the Baume-Les-Messieurs Monastery in France. The complex art form has two parts to it. The first part involves the manufacturer/supplier who mixes metal oxides with glass to make coloured sheets of glass. Then comes the artist who joins these coloured glass pieces together to form a stained glass window. Sometimes, faces, figures, emblems, motifs or wordings are added to some pieces by painting and firing them. The art form is much harder than painting on canvas, paper or other surfaces, believes Hajeebhoy. 'If there's a mistake, you have to throw it. You can't correct it. When you paint, they appear as very dull matte colours. But once you fire it, the colours completely change, anywhere from 20% to 100%. It becomes a different colour, like how gold becomes red,' he tells The Hindu. The metals occupy the molecular spaces within the glass and allow only particular wavelengths of light to be transmitted through, creating the magic that leaves the spectator awestruck. 'That's why it's different. It's theory of chemistry and theory of light all combined together,' Hajeebhoy notes. The process Hajeebhoy's fascination with stained glass began when he was a class 12 student. A chance meeting with veteran stained glass artist Vinayak Patel became a major turning point in his life. Hajeebhoy's first commissioned project was for the residence of Bollywood doyens Neetu Singh and Rishi Kapoor. In 1996, he set up Glasscrafters in Bengaluru, where he indigenised most processes in the production of stained glass. 'I make my machinery and tools. But we still import the glass sheets. The manufacturers' formulas for making the glass are like grandmother's recipes. Factories that make the glass do not let anybody else know their formula. Each factory produces about 500 to 1000 kinds of glass in different colours, textures, transparencies and so on.' The glass is then cut in the desired shape using a diamond cutter. A diamond head grinder is used to flatten the sharp and uneven edges of the cut glass. The pieces of stained glass are joined together using the copper tape method or the lead channel method. The copper tape technique, developed by Louis Tiffany in the 1890s, is also known as the Tiffany technique. Most stained glass work in churches, however, has used the lead channel technique, Hajeebhoy notes. The art of staining The 3 mm glasses are stained using metal oxides, which are available as very fine powders, but in very few colours. It is mixed with oils such as pine oil or ceramic oil to make a paint. Each piece of glass is painted on and then fired in a furnace at a temperature between 630 to 650 degrees centigrade. Depending on the size and shape of the piece, the heating continues for at least six hours. During this process, the oxides fuse with the top layer of the glass and become permanent, explains Hajeebhoy. The cooling happens even more slowly, making the whole process as long as about 20 hours. 'Each time we do it, it comes out different. No two pieces are the same,' notes Hajeebhoy. Of the most popular stains in the art form is the silver stain which is often used in painting faces. He explains why. 'If you put a thin layer of silver stain, you get a light yellow. Apply it a little thicker, it becomes a darker yellow. Add even more, and it becomes brown. So, with one stain and one firing temperature, you can get multiple colours, making silver stain the most important stain in stained glass.' Churches and stained glass art According to Hajeebhoy, the churches were almost exclusively responsible for the art of stained glass to survive over the centuries. His first restoration work at a church in the city was at St. Mary's Basilica in Shivajinagar. 'The British built several churches in Bengaluru and imported the stained glass to be put up in these churches. Many of them were donated by the parishioners or people abroad, and some by people in India.' Some of the major restoration work done by Hajeebhoy and his team includes the All Saints Church, East Parade church, Holy Trinity Church, St Mark's Cathedral and St Patrick's Church, among others. 'Very often, the names of the original artists are not mentioned. It was only during the restoration of stained glass art in St Patrick's church that we surprisingly found the name of a studio from France. Most of the rest, I think, have come from England.' While his biggest work in terms of restoration has been the All Saints church, where the team took almost two years to complete both the floors, the biggest piece Hajeebhoy has commissioned to date in a church is at the St Antony's Friary in Madiwala. 'It was extremely difficult. The church gave me the design, which was done by a graphic designer in Chennai. We didn't have space in our studio for such a big piece because each section is about 3x10 feet and about seven such sections were making the entire piece very larger,' says Hajeebhoy who recalls the experience of climbing up on the water tank each time to get a good perspective of the piece and to get the proportions right. The less understood art While stained glass has managed to stand the test of time, Hajeebhoy, who has been conducting workshops and educating people about the art, feels it is very little understood in India. Lack of awareness, confusing glass painting with stained glass, and replacement of old glass windows by fibre glass have often led to the loss of precious heritage and artworks. He remembers an instance of driving past a church in Bengaluru once to spot some repair work going on at the church. As he entered the church, he saw that the stained glass windows and the arches of the small windows were being discarded. His efforts to appeal to the church authorities to save the heritage windows were in vain. 'That's what inspired me to go to more churches and ensure that the stained art work were not thrown out,' he recollects. Yet another instance was when he was invited to do restoration work of a small section at Victoria Terminus in Mumbai. 'It was only when I went up with the general manager that we realised that the windows that were meant to be restored were replaced by fibre-glass windows.' New customers However, a new section of art connoisseurs seems to have been emerging. A large section of people — many of whom are software engineers — with disposable incomes are now interested in having stained glass art in their homes, notes Hajeebhoy. 'Most of our clients today are software engineers. Ashrams are also going for it lately. So, we've started doing a lot of work that is of Indian or Hindu themes. There are also pubs among our clientele.' With cheaper alternatives (such as glass etching made to look like stained glass) emerging in the market every day, undercutting the beauty, intensity and complexity of the art form, Hajeebhoy stresses the importance of education. He has so far trained more than 2000 people, excluding the students he taught at various colleges. 'When I started in college, there were hardly five to seven people in India who were doing this work. Now there are over a thousand people,' he says. A question arises from the audience about the role of light in stained glass. Hajeebhoy quips, 'In the daytime it's brighter outside and darker inside. You enjoy the stained glass inside your house. In the night, when you put on the lights and the outside is dark, your neighbour will enjoy the stained glass. Sharing is caring.'
BBC News
31-01-2025
- General
- BBC News
Canterbury: Cathedral to host Candlemas to end festivities
Canterbury Cathedral will mark the end of its Christmas season this weekend with a Christingle service for November until the end of January children are encouraged to decorate an orange with red ribbon, cocktail sticks, sweet treats and a candle to represent the light of tradition of giving a candle and ribbon to children was started in 1747 by Bishop John de Watteville of Dr Emma Pennington, the Kent cathedral's canon missioner, said: "Candlemas ends the wonderful time of celebrating which began with Christmas Day when we all woke up to our presents, and then we came to Epiphany when the Wise Men saw baby Jesus in the stable and it ends with Candlemas." Candlemas Day, or the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, happens exactly 40 days after Christmas Day, falling on 2 February."This is when Jesus was presented in the Temple as the first new born of Mary and Joseph," said Rev Dr Pennington."He is announced as the Light of the World but Mary is also told that a sword will pierce her heart which is a warning of the period of Lent and Holy Week to come, so it's a bittersweet time." It is unclear why an orange was chosen to represent the world but the red ribbon wrapped around it represents the blood of Christ while the four cocktail sticks are the points of the compass or the four seasons. The sweet treats can be anything from marshmallows to raisins and are the fruits of the earth.A candle, or more recently a glowstick, is placed in the centre and lit during the Candlemas workshop starts at 10:30 GMT on Sunday in the Community Studio inside the Canterbury Cathedral Precincts.
