Description of the attraction
The Abbey Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Bath, better known as Bath Abbey, is a magnificent Gothic temple, a masterpiece of perpendicular Gothic, one of the largest Gothic churches in western Britain.
There are legends that the church was founded by Saint David himself, but most historians are still inclined to believe that the founder should be considered King Osric, the ruler of the Kingdom of Hwiss, who in 675 granted Abbess Bertha a large plot of land near Bath for the establishment of a nunnery there. The monastery was later transformed into a male monastery. The King of Mercia Offa built a "wondrous beauty" church on the site of a former pagan temple, but nothing is known for certain about this building. Edgar the Peaceful, King of England, was crowned at Bath Abbey with his wife Elfrida - and this is the first time a Queen of England has been crowned. Under Edgar, the abbey at Bath becomes Benedictine.
In 1090 the episcopal see was moved to Bath, and the church from. Peter becomes a cathedral. In this regard, the construction of a new large cathedral of Peter and Paul begins, but the construction is delayed and completed only by 1156. Years of rivalry between Bath and nearby Wells ends with the episcopal see being transferred to Wells. The Cathedral in Bath collapses and falls into desolation, the modest abbey does not have enough funds to maintain such a large temple. In 1500, construction began on a relatively small church in the perpendicular Gothic style, and it was completed several years before the church reforms of George V. In the following years, the church was destroyed, and reconstruction began only by order of Elizabeth I, who ordered the establishment of a national fund for the restoration of the temple.
At the end of the 19th century, George Gilbert Scott carried out the restoration of the cathedral and completed the fan vault in accordance with the original plan. Restoration work in the 20th and 21st centuries included in particular the complete cleaning of the building and the renovation of the old organ.
