11th-century Chapel of St John the Evangelist in the White Tower of The Tower of London. May 2003.
The White Tower has always been my favorite part of the Tower complex, probably owing to its antiquity. For all the grandeur of the Gothic and Tudor architecture of the centuries following, I have to admit a love of the Anglo-Norman style, and especially of this chapel. Simple, basic and powerful.
The White Chapel is my favorite as well, Laura. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful picture.
Faith
So beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Simple, basic, powerful…it certainly is for those who see it today.
I have read that in the past, it was gaily decorated, full of color and joyous with life. Perhaps as with so much else during the Dissolution, this chapel found itself having decorations removed, and any hint of religion destroyed.
It’s my favorite room in The Tower.
Tracey – Yes, indeed, it is thought to have been brightly painted in the past. Somewhere I have a painting that reconstructs what it might have looked like. I want to say that they found traces of paint, which guided the reconstruction? I love it the way it is now though.
I’m so happy you all have enjoyed this picture… it’s one of my favorites. When I was rescanning the negatives I was able to get some more subtle details that I couldn’t from the photo prints. Eventually I’ll be replacing all of the photos of places on the site with the new scans (I’ve done a couple of places so far, but the Tower is going to take a while since I have three different visits worth of photos!)
I was just there in April and this was one of my favorite sites at the tower as well.