Built on a foundation of gold: King's Chapel

King's Chapel is one of the most iconic buildings at Cambridge University, with its gothic architecture and towering white limestome walls. The corner stone for the chapel was laid in 1441 by Henry VI and was the beginnings of his great court, which would house King's College.  "He went to great lengths to ensure that King's College Chapel would be without equal in size and beauty. No other college had a chapel built on such a scale: in fact, the building was modelled on the plan of a cathedral choir, the architect being Henry VI's master mason, Reginald Ely." (King's College website)  The foundation stone was laid in 1446 which began a fifteen year building process.  Henry VI was tragically murdered in the Tower of London during the building of the chapel and the project had to be taken up by the new king Edward IV, who was less than enthusiastic about the project.  Out of the kindness of his heart, Richard III donated enough funds to have the chapel completed.

This magnificient building has remained since then and was passed down through the centuries to the Tudors and so on.

Virginia Woolf talks about the chapel in A Room of One's Own as she's walking the grounds of Cambridge. "As you know, its high domes and pinnacles can be seen, like a sailing-ship always voyaging ner arriving, lit up at night and visible for miles....and then painters brought in their glass for the windows, and the masons were busy for centuries up on that roof...Every Saturday somebody must have poured gold and silver out of a leathern purse into their ancient fists...An unending stream of gold and silver...But it was then the age of faith, and money was poured liberally to set these stones in a deep foundation...still more money was poured in from the coffers of kings and queens....and the age of reason had come, still the same flow of gold and silver went on....Certainly, as I strolled round the court, the foundation of gold and silver seemed deep enough..." (Woolf, 9-10).