Tom Bree – Pyramid Geometry in Gothic Cathedral Design. 15 March 2023

If you have ever had any doubts about the intelligence, mathematical ingenuity and technical abilities of the Medieval Age, this talk will open your eyes to the incredible sophistication of the sacred geometry underlying the design of some of its most significant religious buildings. Tom Bree has spent many years investigating the relationships between the dimensions of Gothic cathedrals, especially Wells Cathedral, and those of the Great Pyramid at Giza. In a mind-stretching array of diagrams he traces the way in which significant proportions in the pyramid, such as that between the length of its sides and its height (11:7), have been reproduced in major dimensions not only in Wells, but also in Southwell and York Minsters.

He superimposed triangles, squares, circles and pentagrams derived from those proportions onto floor plans of the cathedrals and their chapter houses, and indicated their symbolic significance, including links to the dimensions of the Earth and the Moon and, in the Lady Chapel of Wells, the symbolism of Venus. He also showed the influence of the biblical dimensions of the Temple of Solomon and the Tabernacle on the construction of the Choir at Wells. Along the way, he made connections with the Heavenly Jerusalem in the Apocalypse (Revelation), Stonehenge, Plato, Newton, the Golden Ratio, Masonic symbolism, and many other fascinating links, including the date of King Charles III’s Coronation (6th May). He seems to have an inexhaustible supply of such profound insights.

Report by Jeremy Young