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The superb condition of Gloucester Cathedral (daily 7.30am-6pm; ) is striking in a city that has lost so much of its past. An abbey was founded on this spot by the Saxons, but four centuries later Benedictine monks came and built their own church, begun in 1069. As a place of worship it shot to importance after the murder at Berkeley Castle of Edward II in 1327: Bristol and Malmesbury wouldn't take his body, but Gloucester did, and the king's shrine became a major place of pilgrimage. The money generated helped to finance the conversion of the church into the country's first and greatest example of the Perpendicular style : the magnificent 225-foot tower crowns the achievement. Henry VIII recognized the church's prestige by conferring on it the status of cathedral. Beneath the reconstructions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, some Norman aspects remain, best seen in the nave , flanked by sturdy pillars and arches adorned with immaculate zigzag mouldings. Only when you reach the choir and transepts can you see how skilfully the new church was built inside the old, the Norman masonry hidden beneath the finer lines of the Perpendicular panelling and tracery. The choir has extraordinary fourteenth-century misericords, and also provides the best vantage point for admiring the east window, completed in around 1350 and - at almost 80 feet tall - the largest medieval window in Britain. Beneath it, to the left (as you're facing the east window) is the tomb of Edward II , immortalized in alabaster and marble and in good fettle apart from some graffiti. In the nearby Lady Chapel , delicate carved tracery holds a staggering patchwork of windows, virtually creating walls of stained glass. There are well-preserved monuments here, too, but the tomb of Robert II, in the south ambulatory , is far more unusual. Robert, eldest son of William the Conqueror, died in 1134, but the painted wooden effigy dates from around 1290. Dressed as a crusader, he lies in a curious pose, with his arms and legs crossed, his right hand gripping his sword ready to do battle with the infidel. The innovative nature of the cathedral's design can perhaps be best appreciated in the beautiful cloisters , completed in 1367 and featuring the first fan vaulting in the country. The fine quality of the work is outdone perhaps only by Henry VII's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, which it inspired. Back inside, an exhibition in the upstairs galleries, reached from the north transept (April-Oct Mon-Fri 10.30am-4pm, Sat 10.30am-3pm; GBP1.50) traces the history of the cathedral, putting it into context with that of the city as a whole. Here, you can try out the Whispering Gallery , where you can pick up the tiniest sounds from across the vaulting.
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