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Coventry Cathedral
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The roofless ruins of the old cathedral.
The exterior of the ruins of the old cathedral
The exterior of the modern cathedral
The city of
Coventry, West Midlands, England is unusual in that it has had three
cathedrals. The first was St. Mary's, a monastic building, only a few
ruins of which remain. The second was St. Michael's, an Anglican
cathedral and now a ruined shell since the Second World War. The third
is the new St. Michael's rising like a phoenix from the ashes out of
the destruction of the former and a celebration of 20th century
architecture.
The original St
Michael's Cathedral was largely constructed between the late 14th
century and early 15th century but now stands ruined, bombed almost to
destruction on November 14, 1940 by the German Luftwaffe. Only the
tower and spire along with the outer wall survived. Before 1918 it was
the church of St Michael, the largest parish church in England, but in
that year was elevated to cathedral status after a revision of the
diocese. The new St Michael's cathedral, built next to the remains of
the old, was designed by Basil Spence. The ruin of the older cathedral
remains hallowed ground. A cross made of nails from the cathedral was
donated to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, which was
destroyed by allied bomb attacks and is kept as a ruin also. A copy of
a graphic by Kurt Reubers that was drawn in 1942 in Stalingrad (now
Volgograd) is shown in the cathedrals of all three cities as sign for
reconciliation of the three countries that were once enemies.
Basil Spence (later
knighted for this work) insisted that instead of re-building the old
cathedral, it should be kept in ruins as a garden of remembrance and
that the new cathedral should be built alongside, the two buildings
together effectively forming one church. The selection of Spence for
the work was a result of a competition held in 1950 to find an
architect for the new Coventry Cathedral; his design was chosen from
over two hundred submitted.
The foundation stone
of the new cathedral was laid by the Queen on March 23, 1956. It was
consecrated on May 25, 1962 and its modern design caused much
controversy. The unconventional spire (known as a fleche) was lowered
onto the flat roof by helicopter. The interior is notable for a large
tapestry of Christ, designed by Graham Sutherland and for the Baptistry
window designed by John Piper. This is a stained glass window of
abstract design which occupies the full height of one wall. It is
compounded from 195 elemental panes of startlingly bright primary
colours. Also worthy of note is the Great West Window known as the
"Screen of Saints and Angels", engraved by John Hutton. Although
referred to as the West Window, this is the ecclesiastical west as it
lies at the opposite end from the altar which is traditionally at the
east end of a church. Due to the unorthodox orientation of this
cathedral, the altar is actually at the north end.
The cathedrals of St
Michael were Coventry's second and third in its history. The first
cathedral in Coventry was St Mary's priory and cathedral, which held
such status from some time between 1095 and 1102 when the infamous
Bishop Robert de Limesey moved the Bishop's see from Lichfield to
Coventry, until 1539 when it fell victim to King Henry VIII's
Dissolution of the Monasteries. Prior to 1095, it had been a small
Benedictine monastery, (endowed by Earl Leofric and Lady Godiva in
1043) but shortly after this time rebuilding began and by the middle of
the 13th century it was cathedral of 425 feet in length and included
many large outbuildings. It was recorded that Leofric and Godiva were
buried together inside.
The City of Coventry
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