New Cathedral of St Michael

Magnificent MR thank you. I have always admired the colour of the stonework of the New Cathedral too. Just a thought - as strange as it may seem if it wasn't for WW2 there would never have been a New Cathedral.

Cathedral from above

Interesting view.... about 1959 give or take, I would say.

Angels fly to the Light, Abrinsky John Hutton's soaring Great West Window

Christine Hill

Beautiful, thanks for sharing Prof. They actually look as if they are floating around in there.

Impressive angle.

When it comes to the new cathedral I come over all old fashioned. From the air it looks like a giant rawl plug, from the side, like a set of loud speakers. The tapestry is ugly and as for the wall statues... well to put it bluntly the Devil's winkie stares at me as I go down the steps.

Helen, Well said. It would be nice if we could go back in time and see if the people of Coventry really had a choice, or was the new one thrust on us. I believe the decision was taken within a week, even before the clergy of the city had time to think.

I'm sure that all the parts looked great on paper and I can understand the drive for something new but put together the building looks wrong in parts and together. I like modern architecture and style but to my mind they hadn't nailed it when the cathedral was designed.

Not often noticed in the new St Michael's, the window L of the pulpit

Basil Spence's design for the New Cathedral was accepted in 1950. By the 1960s he had designed a nuclear power station, Trawsfynydd in North Wales. Make of that what you will

Explains a lot. I'm a believer in fundamental aesthetics where something is almost universally pleasing. Like a mountain view or a kingfisher. Too much art and design these days is about being different for the sake of it and add very little to truly great works of art or architecture. The original St Michael's wasn't the most beautiful of cathedrals but it was made up of elements that were. While the ruins of the cathedral are desperately tragic, they are almost more beautiful than the cathedral was when it was intact. Like a teardrop, perfect and sad at the same time.