Social Activities
Whilst The Friends of Rochester Cathedral exists to raise money for the repair and restoration of the Cathedral, as a diverse and friendly community of people, we also have a calendar of social activities throughout the year.
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Recent social events
View some recent highlights by clicking the icons below.
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Social activities programme 2008
| DATE | EVENT |
| Wednesday 26 November 2008 | Friends Advent Lunch |
| March 2009 | Visit to Down House ~ details to follow |
| April 2009 | Visit to Sheffield Park ~ details to follow |
| Friday 8 - Tuesday 12 May 2009 | Trip to Normandy & Bec ~ Details to follow |
| May 2009 | Evening visit to Finchcocks ~ details to follow |
| Saturday 20 June 2009 | Friends AGM & Evensong followed by three hour trip on 'Kingswear Castle' (finger buffet) |
Further details of all of the above are available from the Friends' Office
Annual General Meeting 2008 ~ Art in Cathedrals
Sixty-five Friends attended the Annual General Meeting at the Rochester Information Centre on Saturday 28th June 2008, followed by tea in the Cathedral Crypt. The Guest Speaker was Professor Vaughan Grylls, currently involved in the Interpretation Plan for the Cathedral. He gave a presentation on 'Art in Cathedrals', a summary of which is included below. The full text will appear in the next Friends' Annual Report.
In England cathedrals and monastic foundations were for centuries the leading patrons for artists. The Reformation and Civil War removed and destroyed a huge amount of art from the established Cathedrals. The Restoration of the Monarchy did not bring art back to cathedrals either in its former quantity or quality. A few great cathedral artists did have the opportunity to flourish after the Restoration, the prime example being Grinling Gibbons.
The Christian Cross is undoubtedly the most recognised logo in the world. It is the Greek symbol for logic or understanding of existence. The Cross identifies Christianity throughout the world and throughout the ages, but it wasn't always so. For the earliest Christians there were several other logos tussling for attention, for example - a shepherd's crook, a fish and CHI RHO (these are the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek). After Christianity was adopted as the official religion of the Roman Empire the Cross became the main influence on the design of sacred art and also on the actual layout of the new cathedrals. The use of colour in cathedrals is almost as important as the Cross and represents a number of Christian beliefs.
By the 18th century much cathedral art in England was invested in tombs and monuments and the outstanding proponent was the sculptor John Flaxman. The direct descendants of his work are those moving memorials designed by early 20th century architects such as Lutyens and Blomfield and seen to best effect in the sad yet uplifting elegance of Commonwealth War Graves scattered throughout the world.
When we arrive at the Victorian period art in cathedrals really comes into its own. The intellectual push-back was started in Oxford in 1833 by John Henry Newman and in 1841 he set out to prove that the Church of England was part of the Catholic Church. This caused a huge row throughout the country. Newman was saying that mystery and grandeur must be restored to worship. Not surprisingly it wasn't long before Newman left the Church of England to be received into the Catholic Church, but there really did seem to be something missing at the heart of Anglicanism. This was to influence cathedral art in three ways: first, in the revival of religious communities; second, in the development of a distinctive form of cathedral architecture epitomised by Gothic revivalists such as Sir George Gilbert Scott; third in the re-introduction, after a gap of over 200 years, of high church ceremonial and liturgy. In actual artworks, the greatest legacy bestowed by the Victorians lies undoubtedly in stained glass. The Victorians rarely achieved the colour saturation in glass of their medieval forebears, although it has to be said, the quality of Victorian stained-glass drawing is second to none. Religiously-themed paintings in cathedrals did not make a comeback to the extent stained-glass did. Perhaps the best and certainly the most famous painting of this period is 'The Light of the World' by the Pre-Raphaelite, William Holman Hunt. The greatest exponent of late Victorian and early 20th century art in cathedrals might be Sir Ninian Comper. Ahead of any other artist he is a one-man answer to the destruction wrought on cathedrals and churches throughout the Reformation and Civil War.
Today the most familiar art is, of course, to be found at Coventry: John Piper's Baptistry Window, Graham Sutherland's great tapestry of Christ in Majesty, Basil Spence's Crown of Thorns Screen are world-famous images.
Most forward-looking cathedrals today regularly host temporary exhibitions of international-quality art and this is perhaps where art in cathedrals has its most vital future. That is something we can all think about and work on here at Rochester.
