King's College Chapel, Cambridge

The world's largest fan vault (1512–1515)

Fan vaulting diagram

Henry VI planned a university counterpart to Eton College (whose Chapel is very similar, but not on the scale intended by Henry). The King decided the dimensions of the Chapel. Reginald Ely was most likely the architect and worked on the site since 1446.[6] Two years earlier Reginald was charged with sourcing craftsmen for the Chapel's construction.[6] He continued to work on the site until building was interrupted in 1461, having probably designed the elevations.[6] The original plans called for lierne vaulting, and the piers of the choir were built to conform with them.[6] Ultimately, a complex fan vault was constructed instead.[6] Reginald probably designed the window tracery at the extreme east of the church's north side: the east window of the easternmost side chapel, which unlike the Perpendicular style of the others is in curvilinear Gothic style.[6] The priest and later bishop Nicholas Close (or Cloos) was recorded as the "surveyor", having been the curate of St John Zachary, a church demolished to make way for the Chapel.[7][8][9]

The first stone of the Chapel was laid, by Henry himself, on the Feast of St James the Apostle, 25 July 1446, the College having been begun in 1441. By the end of the reign of Richard III (1485), despite the Wars of the Roses, five bays had been completed and a timber roof erected. Henry VII visited in 1506, paying for the work to resume and even leaving money so that the work could continue after his death. In 1515, under Henry VIII, the building was complete but the great windows had yet to be made.

The Chapel features the world's largest fan vault, constructed between 1512 and 1515 by master mason John Wastell. It also features fine medieval stained glass and, above the altar, The Adoration of the Magi by Rubens, painted in 1634 for the Convent of the White Nuns at Louvain in Belgium. The painting was installed in the Chapel in 1968; this involved the lowering of the Sanctuary floor leading up to the High Altar. It had been believed that gradations were created in 1774 by James Essex, when Essex had in fact lowered the floor by 5 1/2 inches,[10] but at the demolition of these steps, it was found that the floor instead rested on Tudor brick arches.[11]

During the removal of these Tudor steps, built at the Founder's specific request that the high altar should be 3 ft above the choir floor, human remains in intact lead coffins with brass plaques were discovered, dating from the 15th to 18th centuries, and were disinterred.[12]

The eventual installation of the Rubens was also not without problems: once seen beneath the east window, a conflict was felt between the picture's swirling colours and those of the stained glass.[13] The Rubens was also a similar shape to the window, which "dwarfed it and made it look rather like a dependent postage stamp".[14] Plain shutters were proposed, one on each side, to give it a triptych shape (although the picture was never part of a triptych) and lend it independence of form, which is how one sees the Rubens today. The installation was designed by architect Sir Martyn Beckett, who was "philosophical about the furore this inevitably occasioned - which quickly became acceptance of a solution to a difficult problem."[15]

During the Civil War the Chapel was used as a training ground by Oliver Cromwell's troops, but escaped major damage, possibly because Cromwell, having been a Cambridge student, gave orders for it to be spared. Graffiti left by these soldiers is still visible on the north and south walls near the altar.[16] During World War II most of the stained glass was removed and the Chapel again escaped damage.[17]

The Great East Window

The windows of King's College Chapel are some of the finest in the world from their era. There are 12 large windows on each side of the Chapel, and larger windows at the east and west ends. With the exception of the west window, they are by Flemish hands and date from 1515 to 1531. Barnard Flower, the first non-Englishman appointed as the King's Glazier, completed four windows. Gaylon Hone and three partners (two English and one Flemish) are responsible for the east window and 16 others between 1526 and 1531. The final four were made by Francis Williamson and Symon Symondes. The one modern window is that in the west wall, which was donated by King's alumnus Francis Stacey and is by the Clayton and Bell company and dates from 1879.

The rood screen, organ, and fan vault

This large wooden screen, which separates the nave from the altar and supports the organ, was erected in 1532–36 by Henry VIII in celebration of his marriage to Anne Boleyn. The screen is an example of early Renaissance architecture: a striking contrast to the Perpendicular Gothic Chapel; Sir Nikolaus Pevsner said it is "the most exquisite piece of Italian decoration surviving in England".[18]

The Chapel is actively used as a place of worship and also for some concerts and college events. Notable college events include the annual King's College Music Society May Week Concert, held on the Monday of May Week. The event is popular with students, alumni, and visitors to the city.

The Chapel is noted for its splendid acoustics. The world-famous Choir of King's College, Cambridge consists of choral scholars, organ scholars (male students at the college), and choristers (boys educated at the nearby King's College School). From 1982 until shortly before his death on 22 November 2019 the director of music for the choir was Sir Stephen Cleobury. It is currently Daniel Hyde. The choir sings services on most days in term-time, and also performs concerts and makes recordings and broadcasts.

The BBC has broadcast the Choir's Nine Lessons and Carols from the chapel on Christmas Eve, during which a solo treble sings the first verse of Once in Royal David's City. There is also a chapel choir of male and female students, King's Voices, which sings Evensong on Mondays during term-time.

The chapel is widely seen as a symbol of Cambridge (for example in the logo of Cambridge City Council).

The Dean of the Chapel is responsible to the College Council and the Governing Body for the conduct of services within the Chapel. King's College Chapel, like other Cambridge colleges, is not formally part of the structure of the Church of England, but the Dean is customarily licensed by the Bishop of Ely. Both he and the Chaplain take a regular part in chapel services: each is normally present at services six days a week during Full Term, and each preaches once or twice a term. The Chapel is run by a Chapel Committee chaired by the Dean. A Use of Choirs Committee, also chaired by the Dean, organises the engagements of the Chapel choir.[19]

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  Side view of the Chapel from inside the college
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  King's College Chapel, Cambridge, South Entrance by Henry Fox Talbot, circa 1845
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  The vault of King's College Chapel

• Warrior, Josephine. A Guide to King's College Chapel. Photography and design by Tim Rawle (Cambridge 1994, reprinted 1997, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2014)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to King's College Chapel, Cambridge.

• King's College: the Chapel
• 3D model of the Chapel for use in Google Earth
• A history of the choristers of King's College Chapel