il Giardino Romantico

第一眼看到這座教堂，我整個人都傻掉了。為什麼這座位於這麼繁榮城市的教堂，會這麼的不起眼？所謂不起眼的地方，當然主要是指他的大小。對於一個比利物浦還要繁榮的城市而言，主要的大教堂就這麼一間？而相較之下，利物浦這種不大又不小的港都，主要的大教堂就有兩間。這點實在令人匪夷所思。

不過上網查了資料以後才發現，原來是我有眼不識泰山。這座教堂的歷史遠遠超越利物浦的兩間大教堂。這間原名The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George in Manchester的教堂，事實上早在第八世紀就建立了。而在第二次世界大戰中，大部分慘遭德軍空襲毀損。重建工程花了約二十年才完工。1952年被正式列入Grade I of Listed Buildings。但在1996，再度慘遭愛爾蘭共和軍襲擊造成部份毀損。該教堂存有大量的歷史性資料庫。最古老的文件可追朔到十五世紀。

When I first caught sight of the cathedral, I was absolutely taken aback.  It was not because of how spectacular it was, but quite on the contrary, it was by how little the cathedral was in such an urbanised city as Manchester.  I couldn't come to figure out the reason why a medium-sized city like Liverpool would have two large-scale cathedrals, but a city as large as Manchester only had one significant cathedral.  After checking up on its history, I've decided that size isn't the only thing that mattered.