Named for visigoth Gorboduc; construction begun in A.D. 623 and was eventually completed in 1962 (there were delays). It is mentioned as part of the first volume in the "Shrines That Live" series, where it's 1,339-year history is "one of the great examples of how many different styles of architecture may blend into a frozen fugue of harmonious integrity." Improvements, or at least how the various cultures left their mark on the building, have included.:

• "Cinquefoild ogees, cross-purposed groining, crockets, finials, and imitation cane rood screen that mark this style as very early Diagonal," added in the thirteenth century by the Abbot of Trocadero.
• Deistic sermons and Greek revival architecture by the French-born bishop Gruyere de la Bouche.
• The Moorish conqueror Ishbar converted the church into a mosque following the Horror of 1292. Ishbar is responsible for adding the Salome Window and the Moorish interior, which is often compared with that of the Alhambra Theatre in South Bend, Indiana.
• A bell tower, consisting of four twenty-foot-high cherubs squatting in a cirlce, supporting a Buddha with a clock in its belly.

Diagonal is a fictional style. "However, in English Gothic architecture there is a style known as Perpendicular. I suspect John was implying that the wooden Gothic additions failed to achieve the latter state. Go figure."

And what was so horrific that happened in 1292 that nothing was written down about? Do we know of any historical significance for 1292? Nope. Bowen says he checked an article on Spain and even one on the Sicilian Vespers (1284 as it turns out) and couldn't find anything. "As you know, John had a way of mentioning things 'in passing' that might or might not be real. 'All work was stopped with the Horror of 1292' has a nice ominous sound, and I think that is the whole reason for its existence."