Stories in Stone: Norwich Cathedral : The Medieval Roof Carvings of Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral's magnificent roof bosses are one of the great hidden glories of medieval art. Over 1000 of these carved and painted keystones perch in the high stone vaulting, where they were placed between 1300 and 1515. Linked together in story-telling patterns they reflect a variety of subject - pagan, folk and Christian, the history of the world from the Creation to the Last Judgement, the Apocalypse, the early ministry of Christ and the life and death of John the Baptist. In quality and quantity Norwich's bosses are among the most impressive in Europe, while in their native arrangement they are entirely without parallel in the medieval world. Situated some 80 feet up from the floor of the Cathedral, the bosses of the nave and the transcept are too distant to have been fully appreciated by worshippers over the centuries. Until recently their character and detail has been discernible to only a dedicated few from special vantage points or through telescopes and binoculars. This book brings them to the general public through photographs, introduced and fully described in a scholarly text."