Hello, TrueTube. I'm Nicholas. Welcome to Southwark Cathedral.
A cathedral is a big church
with a chief priest or a bishop at the head of it.
He is in control of all the churches in the surrounding area.
We're entering through the west door so come on in.
Here we are at the west end facing east.
This area where there are chairs is called the nave
and that's where the congregation sit during the service.
This here is called a font.
It's a big bowl full of water and it is used for baptism.
During a baptism a priest pours water on top of a baby's head
to symbolise the welcoming into the Christian faith.
It's put at the entrance of a church
to symbolise the welcoming into the church
as a baby is at its baptism.
As I said, this is the nave.
In the nave where people sit, there are chairs.
In some churches there are pews which are long, wooden benches.
Also, on the chairs, are these cushions called hassocks.
These are used for kneeling on during prayers.
At the centre of the nave is also the place where
the priest comes and reads from the gospel
of either Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
I'll just show you the votive candle station now.
This is, as I said, called a votive candle station
therefore these are votive candles.
A votive candle symbolises a prayer and people light a votive candle
if they want to say a prayer for someone who is sick
or someone they are worried about.
If you look around the cathedral you will notice that
a lot of the windows are stained glass windows.
These windows portray images and scenes
from saints or the Bible
or important people from the history of this cathedral.
If you follow me now we're going to go to the centre of the church
which is called the crossing.
Here we are at the crossing
which in this church is known as tower's base
because it is beneath the tower.
A church traditionally is built in the shape of a cross.
We have the nave.
We have the chancel.
And we have the two transepts, the north...
..and the south.
Above us, as I said, we have the tower.
In the tower are bells which are rung
and were traditionally used to call Christians to church.
This is called the pulpit
and this is where the priest comes to preach to the church.
The priest's talk to the church is called a sermon.
Here, the east end of the church is called the chancel.
In these seats and these seats is where the priests sit.
In most churches they are called priests or vicars or pastors,
but here we call them deans and canons.
This part of the chancel is called the choir
because it's where the choir sits.
The choir is usually accompanied by the organ.
Here is the organ loft where the organist sits.
As you can see, the organ is a keyboard instrument
and the sound comes out of huge pipes.
This is the lectern.
It is basically a big book stand. It's used to rest the Bible.
Passages from the Bible are read by the clergy to the congregation
from this point.
Lecterns can also be situated at the front of the chancel by the crossing.
The lectern is in the shape of an eagle
which is the symbol of St John the Evangelist
one of the gospel writers from the four gospels in the Bible.
The east most part of the chancel is called the sanctuary.
It's separated from the chancel by an altar rail.
As you can see up there we have a window.
The church faces east and therefore in the morning
the sun comes through and lights up the church.
That is a symbol of Jesus is the light of the world.
Next, these statues.
We have figures of people from the Bible
and important people from the church,
particularly Jesus up at the top in the gold,
and Mary just beneath him, also in gold.
Below the statues we have the high altar.
On the altar there is a cross.
That is the symbol of Christianity,
the cross that Jesus was crucified on.
On either side of the cross we have two candles
and when lit during the service
they also symbolise that Jesus is the light of the world.
At the moment in our church we have a nativity scene.
That's because it's near Christmas.
We've got Mary, Jesus and Joseph
and the Three Wise Men and the shepherds.
Let's get a closer look at the high altar.
This is one of the most important parts of the church.
It's called the altar.
This church has two altars, one in the tower space
and one here in the sanctuary called the high altar.
This altar is used to place the sacrament of bread and wine,
and for it to be blessed by the priest
before it being shared out among the congregation.
The bread symbolises the body of Christ
and the wine symbolises the blood of Christ.
This is called holy communion.
At most churches, the high altar is the very front part of the church
but in this cathedral we have some more chapels behind the high altar.
Let's go and see them.
In this area we have a few chapels.
A chapel is like a miniature church.
As you can see, each chapel has got its own altar
and it is a space for private prayer.
Now we will go to the south transept.
Here we are in the south transept which is right next to the crossing,
or the tower's base.
And then, just beyond the tower's base
is the north transept.
The transept can be used for extra seating space as the north is,
or for exhibitions, like we have on at the moment.
This south transept is also home to the organ pipes.
As you may have noticed from walking around the church
there are various memorials dotted around the church.
This is a particularly impressive one
of a Poet Laureate from the 15th century.
This is actually a tomb.
Well, thank you for coming to the cathedral today, TrueTube,
and I'll show you out, this way.
Thank you for coming. Bye!