Initiated by the decision of David I to establish (or re-establish) a bishopric at Glasgow, the new cathedral was consecrated in 1136 in the presence of David and his court during the episcopate of John Capellanus. Constructed over St Mungo's burial place - a sacred location which may explain the otherwise unusual hillside site - the cathedral rose slowly, not without interruption and recasting, over a period of some 150 years. Excavations at Glasgow Cathedral between 1988 and 1997 uncovered architectural fragments of this first stone cathedral beneath the floor of the present cathedral.