St. Machar's Cathedral

On arrival at St. Machar’s Cathedral, having walked through the gate, past the gravestones and over the cross formed by the paths in front of the church, one finds easy to think back to the era of the people that first inhabited this grave yard. When placing oneself in the context of medieval times, the church and its surroundings possess enchanting and overwhelming sense of piety. Buildings such as this truly were the biggest and the most magnificent places the majority of the people in the medieval era had ever faced. Fear and respect undoubtedly must have gone hand in hand.

On stepping inside the cold stone walls of the holy house, a sense of awe slips from the lips of the ordinary laymen. The decoration of the church is not lavish, but rather great in its scarcity. Of course, this was not the case when ceiling first came to be; the Catholic Church certainly knew how to impress with gold and valuables. The wooden benches meant for the common people squeak when one addresses one’s rear side on them. The red pillows are undoubtedly addition of the modern times.

Facing east, confronting a rather large wooden Jesus, as we are told; for it is not there anymore, the laymen certainly knew their place in the order of society. If attention for any reason what-so-ever drifted away from service that was held in Latin, the people sitting in the benches could draw their heads back and, if eyes remained open, study the details of the great Heraldic ceiling.

The ceiling was built by Bishop Gavin Dunbar in the early 16^th Century. The ceiling contains 48 heraldic shields in three rows of sixteen, arranged flatly. The shields are arranged in order of the most important ones heading east, towards Jerusalem continuing in order towards the back of the church. Many things can be read from the shields, sometimes they are visible at first glance, often needing closer study.

Charles V’s shield as Holy Roman Emperor appears first. He can be found in five shields through the ceiling; he was the King of Spain, Aragon, Navarre and Sicily at the same time. At the time of the building, James V, King of Scots, with imperial crown, was unmarried young boy and the place for his spouse is inhabited by the shield of St. Margaret of Scotland. Signs of what is not there is relevant, too. Air brushing history is not invention of contemporary media as we can see; John Balliol claiming his right to the throne was inconvenient and he has been removed in the course of the history represented by this ceiling. When thinking of present day connotations, the most striking of the shields is the red, bloody, dripping heart of the Douglas family.

The solid décor of the ceiling can certainly be seen as a statement of the wealth of the status of the church. It clarifies the obvious segregation of peoples and enlightens us as to the way the creators believe the world should be seen: those who pray, those who fight and those who work.

When sitting here on the bench, it is clear who were the growing force holding this ceiling and at the same time its message. They found pride in it, being part of something bigger, part of the universe. The cultural statement of the roof is clear; to show that Scotland was part of the continent too, part of the mighty and powerful. 

More info: http://www.stmachar.com/