Durham Cathe­dral was built in the late 11th and ear­ly 12th cen­turies to house the relics of St Cuth­bert (evan­ge­liz­er of Northum­bria) and the Ven­er­a­ble Bede. It attests to the impor­tance of the ear­ly Bene­dic­tine monas­tic com­mu­ni­ty and is the largest and finest exam­ple of Nor­man archi­tec­ture in Eng­land. The inno­v­a­tive audac­i­ty of its vault­ing fore­shad­owed Goth­ic archi­tec­ture. Behind the cathe­dral stands the cas­tle, an ancient Nor­man fortress which was the res­i­dence of the prince-bish­ops of Durham.