Commemoration of an Outstanding Artist of the Victorian Architecture

Text: András Jeney

William Burges was a remarkable British historicist architect. He considered himself not only an architect but also a painter, sculptor and an industrial designer. He was a great fan of the Early French Gothic style, he designed his works mainly in this style. He won the competition for the Lille Cathedral and the Crimea Memorial Church, but finally he couldn’t build them. His earliest main work is the Cathedral in Cork. It was an extremely expensive buildings: the exterior and interior are decorated very richly. He also built two fascinating churches in West-Yorkshire (in Skelton and in Studley Royal). Among the journalists and the fellow artists he was the popularst competitor in the tender of the Royal Courts of Justice. Although he was not the winner, his designs were very influential around Great-Britain.