Ely Cathedral The relief scenes were built into the wall, so each face or statue was individually hacked off, but leaving many finely carved details, and numerous puzzles as to what the original scenes showed. After the reformation it was redeployed as the Parish Church (Holy Trinity) for the town, a situation which continued up to 1938. The central octagonal tower, with its vast internal open space and its pinnacles and lantern above, forms the most distinctive and celebrated feature of the cathedral. However, what Pevsner describes as Ely's 'greatest individual achievement of architectural genius' came about through a disaster at the
Asti Cathedral series of earlier buildings including a primitive church built on the crypt of the martyred saint, Secundus of Asti. Among other of these buildings still apparent is St. John's Church, used today for baptisms. Around 1070, the building collapsed, partly as a result of a fire that set by Adelaide of Susa in her dispute with the bishops. In 1095 the rebuilt Cathedral was consecrated by Pope Urban II to preach the first crusade. The bell tower was rebuilt starting in 1266 by the magister Murator Jacopo Ghigo consisting of seven floors, plus an octagonal spire, and it is visible