All Things Bright - Mappa Mundi & Chained Library

Hereford Cathedral is full of treasures, examples of the very best in art, craft and architecture, created over the centuries as offerings to God. Among them are a wide variety of metal objects, some fundamental to the act of Christian worship, others tucked away and perhaps overlooked. As well as its own metalwork treasures, the cathedral also cares for the historical silver no longer in regular use in churches in the Hereford Diocese.

At the exhibition’s entrance is the oldest exhibit, a Norman bronze door knocker in the shape of a grotesque animal head, originally on the door of Dormington Church. Such knockers, now extremely rare, once allowed penitents and pilgrims to ask for grace, and fugitives to seek sanctuary.  Medieval devotion to the saints is reflected in an enamelled reliquary made in Limoges which once contained a relic of St Thomas Becket; a brass of St Ethelbert the King from the shrine of St Thomas of Hereford; and a fabulous gold and ruby ring which once adorned the gloved hand of an early 16th-century bishop.

All Things Brightis on show within Mappa Mundi and Chained Library, Hereford Cathedral, Monday 24 January to Saturday 23 April 2022. The exhibition is open from Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm (last entrance 4.30pm). Normal charges apply.