MAKING a return this week is My Favourite Building which, after two recent trips stateside (see links below), stays local and takes a timely look at Coventry Cathedral. Our writer is Angelique Runnalls, business development manager with Willmott Dixon Construction, in Coleshill.
MY favourite building is Coventry Cathedral – perhaps something of a surprise to those who know me. I am not a religious person, but I do appreciate the beautiful buildings where people choose to worship their god or deity.
My earliest memory was a trip by my church choir, made because Sir Basil Spence who designed Coventry Cathedral also designed my local church.
The scale of the bronze sculpture of St Michael standing over Satan used to frighten me as a child, however now I see this as beautiful imagery of good overcoming evil.
The ‘new’ cathedral (below) is built alongside the ruin of the original cathedral, devastated like much of Coventry on the night of November 14, 1940.
My favourite part of the ruin is the wooden cross that stands on the altar. The morning after the devastation of the blitz, the cathedral stonemason Jock Forbes noticed two of the charred medieval roof timbers had fallen in the shape of a cross.
They were placed on an altar made of rubble along with the words ‘Father Forgive’ to show that from human self-destruction, hope can be found.
The new cathedral, apart from being a stunning place to worship, is a symbol of human empathy and the bringing together of global cultures.
After the war, such was the compassion from across the globe, donations poured in to help build the new cathedral, with the Queen laying the foundation stone in 1956.
Walking from the ruin into the new building, you encounter the baptistery window designed by John Piper, with 195 coloured glass panels from the palest whites to the deepest purples and blues.
On a sunny day, the whole entrance is bathed in varying hues of light. As part of our trips, we were given the task of counting the colours, our vicar’s way of keeping lots of young children distracted.
This place is special to me because it holds so many happy childhood memories, from discovering the different parts of the cathedral to learning how to sit still on wooden chairs – something I still have not mastered – or just enjoying watching people pray.
I am by no means a devout individual but to spend time in this beautiful place creates such an overwhelming sense of joy, especially for a young child, that you feel blessed something so magnificent was born of something so horrific.
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After the war, such was the compassion from across the globe, donations poured in to help build the new cathedral, with the Queen laying the foundation stone in 1956.
