Secrets of King's College Chapel

A historic overview of King’s College Chapel and a summary of its construction.

King’s College Chapel was founded in 1446 by the mystically-inclined King Henry VI, known in his time as "the royal saint". The king gave his builders complete instructions for a magnificent chapel of cathedral dimensions, every part of which had a mystical and spiritual meaning. This "final flowering of the Great Work'' was designed from the principles of sacred geometry, laid out and orientated by the ancient geomantic practice of the operative masons who built it. Today, it is the iconic image of the City of Cambridge.

This book summarises its construction, notable for its stunningly beautiful fan-vaulting and exceptional stained glass which still exists in its entirety. Although the chapel’s original significance as a symbolic structure has been eroded over the centuries, it remains a place of wonder and reverence for countless thousands of visitors and those who watch on television the annual Christmas carol festival broadcast from there every year.