Coventry's Cathedrals 1043 - 1962.

The First Cathedral - St Marys. 1043.
The history surrounding Cathedrals in Coventry reaches back nearly 1000 years when St Osburga founded a nunnery in Coventry. The original Cathedral, built in the 11th Century, and said to be founded by Godiva, has now gone except there are still some remains to the west of the new Cathedral.

Excavations in 1999 and 2001 exposed much of the foundations of the old St Marys cathedral. The new visitor centre, the Priory Visitor centre, is now open and is an excellent resource, showing fragments of the Cathedral's past - some of which are in excellent condition with fine, detailed painting still in evidence. 

The Second Cathedral - St Michaels. 1373.
In 1373 the building of the second Cathedral of St Michael began. It was on the night of 14th November 1940, however, that one of the most momentous events in the life of the second cathedral took place.  The building was hit by German bombing and was destroyed, the first bombs hitting the Cathedral at about 7.40pm.

On the 16th of November King George the Sixth visited the ruins. Coventry was the first British city to be destroyed in this way and the only city to lose it's Cathedral.  After many hours work by the air raid wardens, and the then Provost the Very Rev R.T. Howard, it was clear by 11.00pm that nothing else could be done to save the building.  All they could do was stand and watch the flames.

"The whole building was a seething mass of flame and piled up blazing beams and timbers interpenetrated and surmounted with dense bronze-coloured smoke. Through this could be seen the concentrated blaze caused by the burning organ, famous for its long history back to the time when Handel played upon it."

The Third Cathedral - St Michaels. 1962.
The decision to re-build the Cathedral was taken the morning after its destruction in 1940 and a competition was launched to find a suitable design.  The winner was Basil Spence (1907 - 1976 ). Mr. Spence was later knighted for his achievement in Coventry.  Later Basil Spence  joined with Henk Snoek, a photographer, to produce a book entitled "Out of the Ashes - a progress in  pictures through Coventry Cathedral". This book, though now out of print and containing only black and white images, manages to portray the dawn of new hope which surrounded the consecration of the Cathedral on 25th of May 1962.

The foundation stone was laid by HM The Queen on 23rd March 1956 by which time the works had been in progress for 12 months. Such was the scale of the contract, and such was the reason for it being carried out, that many offers of donations came from around the world. Gifts arrived from Germany, Canada, Hong Kong, Sweden and other countries. 

The new Cathedral stands at right angles to the old. The construction is monumental and striking in its proportions but not overbearing. It is faced with the same Red Coventry sandstone that the old Cathedral was constructed from, as are many buildings in the area. The whole concept reflects that of a church set in a modern technical city. Many artists were commissioned to create elements for the Cathedral: the tapestry of Christ in Glory by Graham Sutherland, vestments by John Piper, the engravings in the west screen by John Hutton, the Baptistery Window designed by John Piper and executed by Patrick Reyntiens, bronzes by Jacob Epstein to name but a few.