Weight of history 💀

I'm in Wales. The smallest city¹ in the UK is St. Davids, and it wasn't far, so I went to see its cathedral, which dates back to the year 589. That's a lot of years.

One weird thing is that the cathedral isn't flat. The floor slopes, *and* there are steps, so the altar (east end) is considerably higher than the west end (where the plebs can sit).

Second weird thing: the massive columns along the nave² lean outwards quite noticeably. How is this building still standing? Well, several parts have collapsed during its history.

Third weird thing: in the middle ages, some bishop decided to build a stonking great stone screen between the nave and the quire³, and to leave space in it for his tomb. And they let him do this!

Fourth weird thing: there are toilets, but obviously a recent addition. For well over a thousand years, people have congregated here, but surely some of them needed to pee?

=>/hashtags/_wales #Wales

=>/hashtags/_cathedral #cathedral

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¹ Depending where you live, "city" may mean different things. In the UK it means somewhere that has been granted city status, often because it has a cathedral. But some cities have no cathedral, and some towns with cathdrals are not cities.

² The nave is the main part of a church where the public sits during a service. The name is supposed to be related to the Latin for "ship".

³ The quire is where the choir sits. Its the same word, but spelled two ways. None of this makes any sense.