The Salisbury Cathedral

Both the cathedral and spire in The Spire are accurately depicted based off of the actual Salisbury Cathedral. Construction for the Salisbury Cathedral started in the 13th century; in 1220 on April 28th, the foundation stones for the cathedral were placed. About a century later, the spire was added on top of the cathedral. This is the time period that the book takes place. The spire in the novel was added on top of the cathedral 150 years later. Similarly, the spire was added to the Salisbury Cathedral approximately over a century later. In order to build the new cathedral, it had to be financed by many people. Powerful people, including the king of the time, Henry III, were asked to help fund the construction for the new cathedral. In a document
In medieval England and all across Europe, Romanesque architecture was the most popular style when it came to building cathedrals. One classic characteristic of Romanesque architecture was rounded arches. This characteristic was visible in all Romanesque cathedrals. Thick walls were also a common characteristic. There were not many windows so it did not allow much light into the building. This old style of architecture slowly became less favored when Gothic style architecture was introduced to England in the late 12th century. Since the construction for the Salisbury Cathedral started in the early 13th century, it fully embraced the rise of Gothic architecture. A noticeable difference in this style of architecture is that instead of rounded arches, there were pointed Gothic arches. This new arch could support more weight and distribute the weight more effectively as buildings were getting higher and higher. Height was also a very important part of Gothic architecture. The Salisbury Cathedral with the spire is over 400 feet in height, and the spire that Jocelin visions of adding is also that tall. This was symbolic of reaching towards the heavens and would allow people to, quite literally, reach the heavens and connect with God. In order to build so high, a new design, flying buttresses, were added. They were buttresses that spread the additional weight away from building. This removed much of the pressure from the building and onto the ground. Additionally, large lancet windows were typical of Gothic architecture. These lancet windows allowed large quantities of light to enter, which is different from Romanesque in which minimal light entered the cathedrals. Light would be able to transform a church into a more majestic and desirable place of worship. It created a sense of power in God, which was why people worshipped