Glasgow Cathedral

Glasgow Cathedral is the oldest and architecturally most significant building in Glasgow, a largely intact medieval structure on a site of continuous Christian worship since the 6th century. St Mungo, Glasgow's patron saint, established a church here in 543 AD, and his tomb in the Lower Church (the crypt) has been a place of pilgrimage ever since. The current building was constructed primarily in the 12th and 13th centuries. Uniquely among Scottish medieval cathedrals on the mainland, it survived the Protestant Reformation of the 1560s largely intact — its fabric preserved by the trade guilds of Glasgow who resisted the mob that destroyed many other buildings. The cathedral has two distinct levels: the Upper Church, the main worship space with its 13th-century nave and choir separated by the medieval stone screen, and the Lower Church (the crypt), which is considered architecturally superior. The Lower Church, a forest of columns supporting a ribbed stone vault, surrounds St Mungo's tomb at its centre and is regarded as one of the finest examples of 13th-century Gothic architecture in Europe. The Blackadder Aisle, a late 15th-century addition intended as the base of an unbuilt tower, extends beneath the south transept. Large 20th-century stained glass windows in the nave commemorate figures in Scottish history. The adjacent Necropolis, a Victorian cemetery on a hill behind the cathedral, is freely accessible and offers views over the city.