Visitors to the BBC Norfolk website can watch daily life in Norwich Cathedral throughout the festive season from a new webcam in the nave. The images will be updated every 30 minutes and can be viewed live until 5 January, 2005. A brief history Norwich Cathedral is more than 900 years old. Its founding bishop, Herbert de Losinga, built the cathedral in 1096. The webcam provides a view of the cathedral nave, the main part of the church. The colourful stained glass in the west window shows scenes from the Old and New Testaments in the Bible. Above it, soars the stone vaulting of the nave roof.  | | Green man boss by Rod Humby |
The arch in this roof vaulting was finely sculpted during the roof’s construction in the Middle Ages. These carvings are known as roof bosses and Norwich Cathedral has more than 600 of them in the nave roof alone. Like the west window, the roof bosses depict scenes from the Bible stories and are a unique monument to the skill of 15th century medieval artistry. The architecture The rounded archways that flank either side of the nave are the oldest, being built by the Normans 900 years ago in the 11th century. This particular style of architecture is known as Romanesque because it is similar to the building style of the ancient Romans. The Normans, who came from France and conquered England in 1066, erected magnificent castles, cathedrals and churches all over Europe.  | | Norwich Cathedral cloisters |
Much of the cathedral is built in limestone, which was transported by ship across the channel from quarries in Caen, Normandy, France. This stone then was floated from Great Yarmouth on barges right down the River Wensum to Norwich. The whole cathedral took only 50 years to build. It was completed in 1145 - an amazing achievement considering the Normans were using this stone to build Norwich Castle at the same time! There is also a lot of flint, Norfolk’s local building stone, in the cathedral as well, but it is mostly hidden away, beneath the floor in the foundations, or as rubble, filling the massive stone walls. Benedictine Monks The cathedral was originally built as a monastic church for a community of Benedictine Monks who lived behind the closed walls of the Cathedral Close and who worshipped here eight times every day, beginning at 2am and finishing at midnight. During the Reformation, a period when Henry VIII closed down all monastic communities, Norwich Cathedral was re-founded as a cathedral run by a dean, with a chapter of canons (a governing body of priests) instead of a prior with a community of monks. This all happened in 1538, when the last prior, William Castleton, became the first dean, and his monks became the first canons in the chapter. Today the dean is the Very Revd Graham Smith, who is responsible for the running of the cathedral. In addition to holding services every day, the cathedral holds events throughout the year. The cathedral receives around 400,000 visitors every year. | 
