| Opening Times | Times for the Chapel opening vary, go to www.kings.cam.ac.uk or contact King's College directly on +44 (0) 1223 331100 For group booking, please contact the Tourist Liaison Officer
Tel: (+44) (0)1223 331212
Fax: (+44) (0)1223 331315 Admission charge: Adults 拢4.50, children/students/senior citizens over 65 拢3
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We caught up with Sally Sandys-Renton, a Cambridge Blue Badge Guide, who took us inside the hallowed Tudor chapel, to disclose the secrets and stories locked in the jewel-like stained glass windows.
 | | See the windows in full glory inside |
She described the lives and imagery depicted in the cold glass, whilst they reverberated in a warm hue of colour inside King's College Chapel as the sun played through the panes.听 This is what she told us... "There are 25 great and lofty windows at King's; a triumph in glass and colour which present, generally speaking, the life of Christ, The Acts of the Apostles and the life of the Virgin Mary. "Most of the windows (from window 3, northside, as from the west end of the ante-chapel) are divided above and below the transom (middle line between top and bottom windows), into The Old Testament above and The New Testament below.听 "The east window is different in arrangement; Christ's Passion and Crucifixion, has six scenes, each occupying three lights." If you look hard, you'll see... In window three on the upper left - The Temptation; witness Eve taking the apple from the Serpent (which has a female head and arms!).听 On the lower left you can see The Annunciation and The Holy Dove over the head of the Virgin (this reads as 'sin came into the world via a woman, as did redemption'!). In window four on the upper right - The Queen of Sheba to the right is visiting Solomon.听 She is on her knees in front of him (Solomon's face is that of Henry VIII). In window nine on the upper left - There's the fall of manna for the Israelites, depicted by white discs (this is a marvel in terms of stained glass creation as it demonstrates precision cutting of the glass - there is no lead holding the white discs in the blue sky, as would have been the normal practice).听 In the lower left, you can see The Last Supper, which was Michael-Angelo inspired with Christ on the left and Judas on the right. In window 13 (east window) - The 'arms' of Henry VII on a banner, held by the red Cadwallader dragon of Wales, his family emblem in the tracery above the head of Christ crucified - this can be read as the assumed 'semi-divinity' of kings and, in particular, of the Tudor dynasty. In window 16 on the upper left - witness Jonah's escape from the mouth of the whale and on the lower left is The Resurrection of Christ (note the classical sarcophagus tomb).
 | | Reconstruction of the Mary Rose |
In window 17 on the upper right - Darius finds Daniel alive in the lion's den and in the lower right is Christ with a spade and Mary Magdalene. In window 20 on the upper left - The Translation of Elijah in a horse-drawn fiery chariot casting his mantle down to Elisha with The Ascension with Christ's feet ascending in the top left hand corner in the lower left window. In window 23 on the lower left - Paul is saying farewell at Philippi and is in a rowing boat approaching his ship.听 Could this ship be Henry VIII's favourite flag-ship and warship, the Mary Rose (named after his younger sister, sunk in the Solent, in his view, in 1545, with great loss of life and brought up again in 1982)?听 Take a look and decide for yourself... Sally continued with many more stories about the scenes depicted on the stained glass windows and each time, with neck strained to see the spectacle, the mass of colours suddenly revealed the well known parables.听 Big, bold and beautiful, the 'jewels' of King's should not be missed... | 
