Coventry Cathedral

Coventry has had three cathedrals. The Priory Church of St Mary was founded as a Benedictine community in 1043, allegedly by the Earl of Mercia, Leofric, and his wife Godiva. It became a cathedral in 1102 but was dissolved and destroyed in 1539. The parish church of St Michael, founded as a chapel in the 12th century, became Coventry’s second cathedral in 1918. However, this was destroyed in the blitz of 14 November 1940. The third cathedral, also dedicated to St Michael, was created next door to the preserved ruins in a spirit of reconciliation during the 1950s and was completed in 1962. Both buildings are stunning: the ruins are thought-provoking; the modern, with its soaring and light interior, is unusually beautiful, and inspiring, for a structure of its period. It was designed by Basil Spence and a wealth of art was commissioned for it, notably the bronze exterior sculpture of St Michael and the devil by Jacob Epstein; the glass entrance screen engraved by John Hutton; the stained glass baptistery window by John Piper and the great tapestry of Christ in Glory above the altar by Graham Sutherland.