Emma Wells

Writer and broadcaster Dr Emma Wells explains the history of 16 of the world’s greatest cathedrals and tells the extraordinary stories of the people that built them.

Wells explains how the emergence of Gothic architecture in 12th-century France led to an explosion of cathedral-building in western Europe. She looks at the construction of a sequence of famous cathedrals including Saint-Denis, Notre-Dame, Canterbury, Chartres, Salisbury, York Minster and Florence’s Duomo. And she also looks further back to the building of the Hagia Sophia in the 6th century, the Christian cathedral of the eastern Roman empire. She shows how these cathedrals were created both in the mason’s yard and in the cloisters of power and how they shaped modern Europe and influenced art, culture and society worldwide.

Wells is lecturer in ecclesiastical and architectural history at the University of York. She is author of Pilgrim Routes of the British Isles, a regular contributor to radio and television and a writer for BBC Countryfile, TLS, BBC History and History Today.

This event is part of the festival’s programme on Christian tradition.