King's College Chapel, Cambridge

King's College Chapel serves as the place of worship for King's College at the University of Cambridge. It is widely regarded as a premier example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture and holds the largest fan vault in the world. The chapel remains an active religious site and is the home of the King's College Choir. It also functions as a prominent landmark and a frequent symbol of Cambridge itself.

The building was constructed in stages under several English monarchs, starting in 1448 and finishing in 1515, a timeframe that covered the Wars of the Roses and the three decades following. Its large stained glass windows were finished by 1531, and the early Renaissance pulpitum was added between 1532 and 1536.

Henry VI originally planned this college as a university counterpart to Eton College, whose chapel is similar but smaller. Work began in 1441 on a small site, now the Old Schools, with a small chapel started in 1444. Henry soon expanded his vision, demolishing a large part of the town to make room for a grand court and chapel, whose dimensions were set out in his Will and Intent of 12 March 1448. Henry himself laid the first stone on 25 July 1446. Reginald Ely is considered the likely architect; he worked on the site from 1446, initially for the smaller scheme, and had been tasked two years earlier with finding craftsmen. He continued until his death in 1471, designing the chapel's general form and completing the eastern parts up to the window transoms. The original plans called for lierne vaulting, and the choir piers were built accordingly. Ely likely designed the east window of the easternmost side chapel, which features curvilinear Gothic tracery rather than the Perpendicular style of the others. The priest and later bishop Nicholas Close served as "surveyor," having been curate of St John Zachary, a church demolished for the chapel.

Building slowed greatly after Henry VI fell from power in 1461. The new king, Edward IV, cut funding for the Lancastrian projects at King's and Eton. The expensive stone vault was abandoned in favor of a timber roof, and the grand college scheme was shelved until the 18th century. After Ely died, John Wolryche took over as master mason, raising the eastern parts to the window heads, and Simon Clerk completed and roofed the eastern five bays. Henry VII visited in 1506, paid for work to resume, and left money for its continuation after his death. The building's shell was finished in 1515 under Henry VIII. The world's largest fan vault, built between 1512 and 1515 by master mason John Wastell, is a key feature, along with fine medieval stained glass.

During the English Civil War, Puritan forces often damaged religious sites, but King's College Chapel largely escaped harm. Parliamentarian troops stationed in Cambridge used the chapel as a training ground, but the building was mostly untouched; some sources say Oliver Cromwell, a Cambridge alumnus, ordered its protection. Graffiti left by these soldiers remains on the north and south walls near the altar. In the Second World War, most of the stained glass was stored for safety, but the chapel again avoided damage.

Above the altar hangs *The Adoration of the Magi* by Rubens, painted in 1634 for a convent in Louvain, Belgium. It was installed in the chapel in 1968 amid national controversy, which required lowering the sanctuary floor leading to the High Altar. It was thought that James Essex had created gradations in 1774, when he actually lowered the floor by 5.5 inches, but demolishing these steps revealed Tudor brick arches beneath. Removing these Tudor steps, built at the founder's specific request that the high altar be three feet above the choir floor, uncovered intact lead coffins with brass plaques containing human remains from the 15th to 18th centuries, which were disinterred. The installation itself also caused problems: once placed beneath the east window, the painting's swirling colors clashed with the stained glass, and the Rubens's similar shape to the window made it look "like a dependent postage stamp." Plain shutters were added on each side to give it a triptych form (though it was never part of a triptych) and lend it independence. The installation was designed by architect Sir Martyn Beckett, who was "philosophical about the furore this inevitably occasioned."

The chapel's windows are among the finest of their era. There are 12 large windows on each side, plus larger ones at the east and west ends. Except for the west window, they are Flemish-made and date from 1515 to 1531. Barnard Flower, the first non-Englishman appointed as the King's Glazier, completed four windows. Galyon Hone and three partners (two English, one Flemish) made the east window and 16 others between 1526 and 1531. The final four were made by Francis Williamson and Symon Symondes. The only modern window is in the west wall, donated by alumnus Francis Stacey, made by Clayton and Bell, and dating from 1879.

The pulpitum is a large wooden screen that separates the choir from the nave.