Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis

This is my second post of the day, so be sure to look at the list on the right for the first one on Dumbarton Rock, too.  Also, if you use the "Follow by Email" widget at the right, I think Google will email you every time there's a new post!

Whatever your feelings about religion, it's hard not to be inspired by a good cathedral.  So, I bring you the lovely Glasgow Cathedral, one of only two intact cathedrals in Scotland (the Reformation didn't go over so well for the Catholic churches, and all the others were destroyed... according to the legend, the descendents of the stone-masons who built Glasgow cathedral threatened to defend the building to the death, so the reformers let it be).

The Glasgow Cathedral that stands today was built in the 1100s.  A few additions have been made since then, but the building remains more or less the same.  The patron saint of Glasgow, St. Mungo, was allegedly responsible for choosing the cathedral's site.  His tomb is located under the main hall of the cathedral.

 The cathedral from the Necropolis above it.  More about that in a moment.

 The front of the building.  More scaffolding... every site I visit seems to be having something done to it.  I guess this is good, though, since it means the Historic Scotland people have the money to put into restoring their properties.  At Glasgow Cathedral they're re-pointing the masonry inside and out.  Evidently they've had some problems with leaking.

 Photos never do justice for buildings like this.  There's such an overwhelming urge to look up.

 This is one of only two of the original oak doors left.  It's from a tree that was growing in the 1100s or before.  Pretty amazing it's still there.

 This is a statue of John Knox.  I think it's hilarious that he's looking right out over the cathedral from the Necropolis at the top of the hill.  Probably disapproving. 

Behind and above the Glasgow Cathedral is the Necropolis, where in the 1800s, running out of cemetery space downtown, the important leaders of the Industrial Revolution started burying each other.  Everyone who was anyone is buried here, along with a lot of other miscellaneous well-to-dos.  There are monuments designed by famous architects, including (of course) Charles Rennie Mackintosh.  The Necropolis is huge (according to Wikipedia there are around 3,500 monuments there, and a lot more dead than that), and it's also a popular place for dog-walking and picnics.