Chester found to be the 'most beautiful city in the World' using mathematical formula
Chester has been crowned the Most Beautiful City in the World - thanks to a complicated mathematical formula.
The so-called Golden Ratio measures things that are 'inherently pleasing to the eye', with examples found in flowers, waves or even galaxies.
After applying the ratio to all the cities in the world, Chester came out on top after a study by Online Mortgage Advisor, found it had the highest number of buildings which fell into the ratio.
It holds the second highest scoring building in the study, Three Old Arches, which scored 99%.
St. Michael's Row was Chester's second highest scoring building with 89.5%, followed by Chester Library with 83.9%.
Overall the city scored 83.7%, ahead of Venice in second, and London in third.
How did the team work it out?
Researchers used the golden ratio to measure regular buildings and iconic landmarks in each city to see how many of them matched the ratio.
They scanned Google Street View for front-facing photos of thousands of iconic buildings and streets lined with homes from historical cities in the UK and around the world.
They then plotted points at the corners of every building in our sample of imagery and calculated the proportion of the longest and shortest lengths of its dimensions.
Those proportions were then compared to the golden ratio (1:1.618) to see how well they matched.
What cities came in the top 10?
Chester, England - 83.7%
Venice, Italy - 83.3%
London, England - 83%
Belfast, Northern Ireland - 82.9%
Rome, Italy - 82.0%
Barcelona, Spain - 81.9%
Liverpool, England - 81.0%
Bristol, England - 80.0%
Oxford, England - 79.7%
Prague, Czech Republic - 78.7%
Nicholas Fry, the Heritage Manager at the Cathedral who also does tours of the city, says the city "has everything".
"I must admit it was a surprise but it's a nice surprise. We've always known Chester was top anyway.
"I think they have worked it out in a very mechanical and mathematical way but what that misses of course is the spirit, the atmosphere and the real physical appearance of all the amazing buildings.
"Chester is an extraordinary place and there is 2,000 years of history here. You've got Roman walls, the amazing medieval cathedral in the centre of town. 17th century half timbered buildings. Building from the 18th and 19th centuries. There is just everything in Chester.
"At the bottom of all the layers of history you've got the Romans and on Bridge Street there is a cafe and you go down in the basement there and you find the remains of a Roman central heating system.
"It's a pleasure to be a tour guide to take people around Chester and to reveal those layers and tell the stories of the city. You've got two thousand years here. There is lots of material to use."
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