2. INFORMATION
• Canterbury's other important monuments are
the modest Church of St Martin, the oldest
church in England; the ruins of the Abbey of St
Augustine, a reminder of the saint's
evangelizing role in the Heptarchy from 597;
3. THE CANTERBURY MONASTERY
• St Martin’s Church, the • The reintroduction of
ruins of St Augustine’s Christianity to southern
Abbey, and Christ Britain by St Augustine,
Church Cathedral commencing at St
together reflect Martin’s Church where
milestones in the Queen Bertha already
history of Christianity in worshipped, and
Britain. leading to the
conversion of King
Ethelbert.
4. COMPARATION
PAST PRESENT
• The successive architectural • the development of Anglo-
responses to Canterbury’s Saxon building in mortared
developing role as focus of brick and stone, and the
the Church in England – flowering of Romanesque
adaptation of Roman and Gothic.
buildings
5. INFORMATION
• The Abbey scriptorium,
which was one of the
great centres of insular
book production, and
whose influence
extended far beyond
the boundaries of Kent
and Northumbria.
6. INFORMATION
• Canterbury’s importance • The architecture and
as a pilgrimage centre remarkable stained glass
based on Augustine and and furnishings of
its other early saints was Canterbury Cathedral
transformed by the thus provide a complete
murder and canonization panorama of Gothic art,
of Archbishop Thomas from its earliest
Becket, whose Cathedral beginnings to its
shrine attracted pilgrims culmination and decline.
from all over Europe.
8. CATHEDRAL
• The wealth and power of
the Cathedral in the 12th
century, when the
offerings of large
numbers of pilgrims
helped the building of the
magnificent enlargement
of the east end, with its
exceptional stained glass
windows and the
rebuilding of the choir
and transepts following
the fire of 1174.
9. ANGLON SAXON
• The Cathedral’s rich panorama of
Romanesque, early Gothic, and late Gothic art
and architecture.
10. MODERN
• Canterbury, in Kent, has • St Martin's Church, St
been the seat of the Augustine's Abbey and
spiritual head of the the cathedral are
Church of England for directly and tangibly
almost five centuries. associated with the
history of the
introduction of
Christianity to the
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
11. CHURCH
• Within the urban perimeter of Canterbury,
three distinct cultural properties are on the
World Heritage List: the modest St Martin's
Church; the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey; and
the superb Christ Church Cathedral,
12. THE STRUCTURES
• Two distinct structures • Trinity Chapel and the
seem to appear in Christ circular Corona Chapel.
Church Cathedral, a major The two architects,
building of medieval William of Sens, a
architecture. To the east, Frenchman, and William
partially covering a huge the Englishman, worked
Romanesque crypt with at the site from 1174 to
admirably carved capitals, 1184.
is some of the most
beautiful architectural
space of early Gothic art:
the choir
