Hidden in a hollow and behind high walls, St David's Cathedral is built on the site of a 6th-century chapel. The valley location was chosen in the vain hope the cathedral would be overlooked by Saxon raiders, but it was ransacked at least seven times. When you pass through the gatehouse and its stone walls come into view, the 12th-century Norman cathedral is astonishingly impressive, its distinctive west front embellished with four pointed towers of purple stone.
The nave is the oldest surviving part of the cathedral, with massive, purplish-gray pillars linked by semicircular Norman Romanesque arches. Above is a richly carved 16th-century oak ceiling, adorned with pendants. At the far end of the nave is a delicately carved 14th-century Gothic pulpitum (screen), which bears a statue of St David dressed as a medieval bishop. Beyond the pulpitum is the magnificent choir. Check out the mischievous carved figures on the 16th-century misericords (under the seats), one of which depicts pilgrims being seasick over the side of a boat.
Between the choir and the high altar is the object of all those pilgrimages: a shrine containing the bones of St David and St Justinian. Destroyed during the Reformation, it was restored and rededicated in 2012, adorned with five new Byzantine-style icons by artist Sara Crisp.
Towards the rear of the cathedral is the low-lit Holy Trinity Chapel, distinguished by a superb fan-vaulted ceiling dating from the early 16th century, and the light-filled Lady Chapel.
Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd, the greatest of the princes of South Wales, and his son Rhys Gryg are known to be buried in the cathedral, although their effigies in the south choir aisle date only from the 14th century. Gerald of Wales, an early rector of the cathedral, has a gravestone here, but scholars suggest he is actually buried at Lincoln Cathedral.
