Peterborough Cathedral 2001-2006

On November 22, 2001, an arsonist set candles under stacked plastic chairs beside the crossing of Peterborough Cathedral. The resulting fire endangered but did not destroy the cethedral's fabric; it did destroy nearly five years' work of restoration and left a thick sooty residue over the cathedral's interior. A wonderful display of photographs reveals the determination and hard work that have brought this magnificent building back to a worthy state. Peterborough is one of a group of superb East Anglian Romanesque cathedrals, including Ely and Norwich, but its particular glory is its thirteenth-century painted wooden ceiling, unique in the world. This, too, was covered in a layer of black soot that had to be painstakingly removed. An essay considers the ceiling and its imagery.