Cathedral bling

Religious or not, you just cannot beat a cathedral for bling. Fabric, stone and glass are the favoured materials, with tapestry, mosaic, carving, molding, gilding, painting, sculpting and probably a zillion other techniques employed in the process.

Altar cloth, alas much faded, in Salisbury. This is in a side chapel dedicated to a female saint, so I thought the introduction of exquisite textile work was highly appropriate. Date forgotten, at a guess, early 19thC

 As if the gorgeous vaulted ceiling isn't enough, there is added this gorgeous fresco work. This is in the prayer chapel at Salisbury.

 A closer up shot of the beautiful, delicate painting

Gloomy bits of cathedrals are really hard to photograph and with no access to Photoshop I'm having to leave them as I tok 'em. This is the ceiling of the entrance hall into Cirencester Cathedral. It has an art nouveau feel to it don't you think? Very forward thinking of those 13th C masons!
I have many more but until I can photoshop them, they will have to wait.