The late Magnum photographer Peter Marlow was granted the rare opportunity to capture 42 places of worship in the early hours, the results of which are now collected in an exhibition and book
There are few experiences more uplifting and humbling than standing in the nave of a cathedral. With the symmetry of columns soaring into arches, and the fine tracery of windows allowing an ethereal light to enter, the effect – as Goethe once described architecture – is like frozen music. These are spaces filled with centuries of human aspiration after the divine; in them, spiritual yearning is made palpable through stone.
Cathedrals also tell of human power, pride, frailty and failings: in the monuments to knights, aristocrats, poets and clergy asking not to be forgotten; and the signs of ecclesiastical reformation in the fragments of paintings that once brightly decorated the walls, or the defaced sculptures of saints.
