St. Bartholomew the Great Church

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hace 7 minutos
’El pasado 2 de febrero se cumplieron diez años de la instalación del cuadro del pintor madrileño Alfredo Roldán ‘Virgen con niño’ de forma permanente en la Lady Chapel — Capilla de la Señora en Saint Bartholomew the Great, la Iglesia Normanda mas antigua de la ciudad de Londres
La misma tarde en que Alfredo Roldán inauguraba su primera exposición en Albemarle Gallery, el Rector de Saint Bartholomew The Great, Martin Dudley impresionado por la obra, le encargó la comisión de pintar una imagen para la Capilla de la Señora, una de las capillas absidiales de su Iglesia.
Roldán realizó varios bocetos, primero a grafito y después a color, en los que se aprecian las diferentes aproximaciones al tema, ‘orientó la mirada’, y empezó la obra desde uno de los elementos característicos de su producción: el bodegón.
El día 2 de Febrero de 1999 el Obispo de Londres El Honorable Richard Chartres consagró la obra en un acto multitudinario al que asistieron numerosas autoridades así como el embajador de España en Londres D. Alberto Aza
El cuadro fue estampado como sello conmemorativo de las Navidades 2001 en emisión conjunta España — Alemania, siendo el último sello en pesetas y marcos y el primero en euros.
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This is one of my favorite places in London. dmj1962 has done a lovely job describing St. Bart’s history, so I will just add my particular favorite things. This is the oldest parish church in the City, and is suitably atmospheric. (The Chapel of St. John in the Tower is older, but was never a parish church but a private chapel.) Even the parts of St. Bart’s that are newer fit beautifully with the feeling of antiquity and history. After you visit the church, be sure to exit through the churchyard and down Cloth Fair, so that you can see the whole church. That view will give you a much clearer idea of the size of the church than the entrance through the lovely Tudor gatehouse.
I recently attended an Evensong service on a Sunday evening (6:30, I believe), and was blown away. St. Bart’s has a small but excellent professional choir, and the atmosphere and service were outstanding. I will go again, the next time I’m in London.

Hidden away across the road from the famous hospital that bears its name, St Bartholomew the Great is a fascinating and atmospheric church, a little enclave of mediaeval London. One of the few surviving monastic churches which once filled London, it contains the City’s finest example of Norman Romanesque church architecture.
The Priory and the adjacent hospital were founded in 1123 by Rahere, a courtier to Henry I, in thanksgiving for surviving a fever contracted on a pilgrimage to Rome. Rahere went on to become its first Prior, and died in 1143. Much of the Priory complex was destroyed at the Dissolution, including the nave, transepts and much of the cloister, but the Norman Chancel and crossing arches survived to become the parish church. The building has been much altered and pulled about since then: the 13^th-​Century Lady Chapel was in secular use until the 19^th century. (At one point it was a printing works, with one Benjamin Franklin as an employee). Much of the church, together with part of the cloister, was restored in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.
Approached through an attractive Tudor gateway itself a rare survivor of both the Great Fire of 1666 and World War II the church has a rather jumbled external appearance. Attractive flint and stone walls, decorated with a chequerboard pattern, contrast with the 17^th Century red-​brick tower. The attractive raised garden to the left is the churchyard, on the site of the original nave. And on the right, overlooked by modern offices, is the former cloister.
Once inside, the dark and gloomy interior makes an immediate impression heightened on my last visit by a fog of incense left from a Sunday service, with shafts of light falling from the clerestory. The eye is drawn towards the High Altar, enclosed by the stunning groin-​vaulted ambulatory and lit from above by 14^th century decorated gothic windows. To the left is Rahere’s tomb, erected in the early 14^th century, his effigy vividly painted. Turn around and you see more of the Norman church, including two huge crossing arches, though devoid of their original transepts.
Besides Rahere’s tomb, the church is full of delightful 16^th and 17^th century monuments, and what is claimed to be the oldest font in London. A rather newer addition is the sculpture ‘Exquisite Pain’ by Damien Hirst, depicting the martyrdom of St Bartholomew (supposedly flayed alive).
Access to the church is free for services and for Private Prayer, but since early in 2007 visitors have been asked to pay a £4 entrance fee.