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.

Manchester Cathedral was originally names 'The Cathdral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George in Manchester'.  It is a medieval church constructed in the 8th centry.  During the second World War, the Blitz destroyed most of the cathedral, and took twenty years for the reconstruction to complete.  In 1952, it became an official Grade I of Listed Buildings.  However, parts of it got destroyed, again, by an IRA attack in 1996.  The cathedral has an extensive archive of documents dating all the way back to the fifteenth century. 


教堂外觀 Exterior of the cathedral.


彩繪玻璃 Stained glass window


讀經室？ Prayer room?


彩繪玻璃 & 吊燈 Stained glass window and chandelier









從教堂走出來後，我發現了一件很慘的事情。那就是：我一抵達去Visitor Centre要到的地圖竟然不見了！不知道是不是在換相機電池的時候不小心鬆手丟掉的。不過反正下一站要去的地方正好也是要回到Visitor Centre附近。所以我就硬著頭皮，憑自己的方向感走回去再跟他們要一份地圖囉！

When I got out of the cathedral, I realised I had somehow lost the map I got at the Visitor Centre ealier during the day.  It must have slipped off my hand while I was changing the batteries to my camera.  But since my next destination requires me to return to that same area, I made good use of my overly developed sense of directions and headed back to get another map.



Manchester Cathedral

天仙念：地圖丟了不可怕。迷路也不可怕。找不到路，卻又無法開口問人，人家想幫也幫不了你，那才是最恐怖的。不過還好我一向都很幸運。人生這條路，一直都有許多好心人一路支持與協助，才能讓我一站接著一站地順利抵達今天的所在地。