BY : Duncan Williams Christian Today
This festive season, the Royal Mail’s 2024 Christmas stamp collection features a series of evocative snowy scenes of iconic UK cathedrals.
Illustrated by British artist Judy Joel, each stamp captures the beauty of these sites dusted in winter snow, evoking a sense of peace, tradition, and seasonal spirituality.
Five cathedrals across the UK are featured: Liverpool, Edinburgh, Armagh, Bangor, and Westminster. The new stamps offer a tour through Britain’s architectural past and its spiritual heart. Each image highlights the cathedrals’ unique histories and cultural significance, giving a glimpse of both well-known and hidden details about each site.
Liverpool Cathedral is celebrated as the largest cathedral in Britain and ranks as the fifth largest in the world. This architectural giant, known for the world’s heaviest and highest ringing peal of bells, attracts countless visitors each year, not only for its grand scale but also for its imposing neo-Gothic design, which stands out dramatically against the Liverpool skyline.
Moving north to Scotland, St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh appears in all its Victorian Gothic beauty. Celebrating its 150th anniversary, the cathedral’s cornerstone was laid in 1874, and its triple spires mark it as one of only three cathedrals in the UK with this unique feature, a distinction shared only with Lichfield and Truro. St Mary’s is also known for its pioneering spirit in music; it was the first UK cathedral with a daily choral service to invite girls to sing alongside boys, a progressive change made in 1978.
Across the Irish Sea, Northern Ireland’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh brings ancient history to this festive collection. Perched on the hill that gives the city its name, Ard Mhacha, the cathedral’s site is said to date back to 445 AD, where Saint Patrick himself founded a church. Its architecture, shaped by centuries of reconstruction and restoration, is an eclectic blend that reflects the varied epochs through which it has endured.
Wales also finds its place in this collection with Bangor Cathedral, a site steeped in Welsh history and legend. Dating back almost 1,500 years, it has withstood the turbulence of history, including episodes of destruction and reconstruction, and serves as the burial ground of notable Welsh princes. The cathedral is dedicated to its 6th-century founder, Saint Deiniol, anchoring it as a deeply significant site for the Welsh people.
Rounding off the collection is Westminster Cathedral, the largest Roman Catholic church in England and Wales. Though construction concluded in 1903, Westminster Cathedral remains unique due to its unfinished interior mosaics, which continue to be crafted and added to this day. The structure itself, with its Byzantine architecture, stands apart from the more Gothic style associated with English cathedrals, making it an architectural marvel in its own right.
This 2024 stamp series offers more than a festive touch; it presents a celebration of the UK’s Christian and architectural heritage, connecting modern observers with centuries of seasonal culture, faith, and history.
Photo: Royal Mail
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