page_title: Durham Cathedral
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Durham Cathedral / History / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Durham World Heritage marker
context_page_description: The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Durham, the fourth-ranked bishop in the Church of England hierarchy. The present cathedral was begun in 1093, replacing the Saxon 'White Church', and is regarded as one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in Europe. In 1986 the cathedral and Durham Castle were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  Durham Cathedral holds the relics of Saint Cuthbert, transported to Durham by Lindisfarne monks in the ninth century, the head of Saint Oswald of Northumbria, and the remains of the Venerable Bede. In addition, its library contains one of the most complete sets of early printed books in England, the pre-Dissolution monastic accounts, and three copies of Magna Carta.
  From 1080 until 1836 the Bishop of Durham held the powers of an Earl Palatine, exercising military and civil leadership as well as religious leadership, in order to protect the English Border with Scotland.
context_section_description: In the 1930s, under the inspiration of Dean Cyril Alington, work began on restoring the Shrine of Saint Cuthbert behind the High Altar as an appropriate focus of worship and pilgrimage, and was resumed after the Second World War.  The four candlesticks and overhanging tester (c. 1950) were designed by Ninian Comper.  Two large batik banners representing Saints Cuthbert and Oswald, added in 2001, are the work of Thetis Blacker.  Elsewhere in the building the 1930s and 1940s saw the addition of several new stained glass windows by Hugh Ray Easton.  Mark Angus' Daily Bread window dates from 1984.  In the Galilee Chapel a wooden statue of the Annunciation by the Polish artist Josef Pyrz was added in 1992, the same year as Leonard Evetts' Stella Maris window.
  In 1986, the cathedral, together with the nearby Castle, became a World Heritage Site. The UNESCO committee classified the cathedral under criteria C (ii) (iv) (vi), reporting, "Durham Cathedral is the largest and most perfect monument of 'Norman' style architecture in England". 
  
  In its discussion of the significance of the cathedral, Historic England provided this summary in their 1986 report:
   The relics and material culture of the three saints buried at the site. The continuity of use and ownership of the site over the past 1000 years as a place of religious worship, learning and residence; The site's role as a political statement of Norman power imposed upon a subjugate nation, as one of the country's most powerful symbols of the Norman Conquest of Britain; The importance of the site's archaeological remains, which are directly related to the site's history and continuity of use over the past 1000 years; The cultural and religious traditions and historical memories associated with the relics of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede, and with the continuity of use and ownership of the site over the past millennium.
  In 1996, the Great Western Doorway was the setting for Bill Viola's large-scale video installation The Messenger, that was commissioned by Durham Cathedral.
caption: Durham World Heritage marker
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