30. A Detective Story.

Dearly Beloved,

I am proud to bring the first detective story to St Clement's

King's College Chapel in Cambridge is an architectural wonder and its choir is second only to that of St John's College. When I moved to Cambridge I took the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful perpendicular architecture and especially the fan vaulting. The stained glass is second to none and a triumph of the Flemish glaziers who were imported into England to construct it. The Crucifixion in the upper east window and the judgment of Pilate in the lower part are especially notable. However I noted something strange: there was no cross on the altar. The loss of the altar cross usually denotes a redundant church.

I asked the guides in the chapel but they seemed to think it was nothing exceptional to have no cross on the altar of a Christian church. I had expected to have a theological explanation. Perhaps a story of a Doctor of Divinity who lived in the vicinity, perhaps a Dean of the College itself, who one night had had a revelation, perhaps having read John 3:8:

“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

So he believed there was no need for a cross on the altar because the sprit would sustain the worshipper without the profound symbolism of kenosis, which the cross represents.

Eventually I was referred by the guides to a more senior representative of the Chapel, who only hesitated briefly at my question and said “We like to think that the crucifixion on the East window will stand well enough in place of the Cross” Well I thought, there is no profound theological explanation. So what is going on?

So I set to work on that universal resource, the internet, and searched out the question. Eventually I came upon an article in the Independent written by Graham Chainey (23/10/2011). This was the revelation I had been looking for. It appeared that in 1961 the fellows had been prevailed upon to allow the installation in King's College Chapel of a excessively large baroque painting produced by Rubens in only six weeks for a convent in Louvain, Belgium. It had been rejected by numerous collectors and galleries as a poor example of the genre. There was much controversy and much opposition with 20 fellows and one hon. fellow (EM Forster) opposing the plans. However the picture was really too large and would have obscured the wonderful stained glass of the East window. It was also objected to as a loud baroque work which would be out of place and wholly incompatible with the perpendicular setting of the Chapel. 

Nevertheless the fellows, led by Rubens scholar and ex head of the Fitzwilliam, Michael Jaffé, and supported by the Provost, Vice Provost and the Bursar, judged that the altar had been raised up in the 18th century, as was evident by the three steps up to the altar and that if the steps were done away with and the altar lowered a little the picture could be fitted in. These steps had actually been part of the original specification and requirements by the donor in 1448 so it was inevitable that when excavations started it was discovered that they sat directly on top of the Tudor arches that supported the Chapel floor. Furthermore if they had looked more carefully at the plans of the Chapel they would not have been surprised at the discovery of several skeletons of past religious dignitaries, possibly senior fellows, buried around the altar dating from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Apparently these bodies were disposed of and no record was made of who they were, despite plaques on some of the coffins or where they now lie. Finally the damage to the Tudor arches was filled in with concrete.

So what a mess was made. The final answer to my question was provided by Hugh Montfiore then the vicar of the University Church of Great St Mary who protested that “there was no longer a cross on the altar, apparently to improve the view of the Rubens.” And thus it is today.


King's College Chapel. There is no cross. The two shutters have been attached to the Rubens picture by the College and are not original
Creative Commons, source: Txllxt TxllxT, Own work.


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