Coventry Cathedral, also known as St. Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England.

The city 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, a Church of England church, later designated Cathedral, that remains a ruined shell after its bombing during the Second World War. The third is the new St. Michael's Cathedral, built after the destruction of the former and a celebration of 20th century architecture.

St. Mary's Priory

The first cathedral in Coventry was St. Mary's Priory and Cathedral, which held such status from a date 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 a cathedral of 425 feet in length and included many large outbuildings. Leofric was probably buried within the original Saxon church in Coventry. However, it was recorded that Godiva was buried at Evesham, alongside her father.

St. Michael's Cathedral

First structure

St. Michael's church was largely constructed between the late 14th century and early 15th century. It was the largest parish church in England when, in 1918, it was elevated to cathedral status on the creation of Coventry Diocese. This St. Michael's Cathedral now stands ruined, bombed almost to destruction on November 14, 1940 by the German Luftwaffe. Only the tower and spire and the outer wall survived. The ruins of this older cathedral remain hallowed ground.

A cross made of nails from the old cathedral was donated to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, which was destroyed by Allied bomb attacks and is also kept as a ruin alongside a newer building. A copy of the Stalingrad Madonna by Kurt Reubers that was drawn in 1942 in Stalingrad (now Volgograd) is shown in the cathedrals of all three cities as a sign of the reconciliation of the three countries that were once enemies. The cross has also been carried on board all British Warships to subsequently bear the name HMS Coventry.

Present structure

The new St. Michael's Cathedral, built next to the remains of the old, was designed by Basil Spence and is a Grade I listed building.

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, on the same day as the new Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, and Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, composed for the occasion, was premiered in the new cathedral on May 30 to mark its consecration.

Like its German counterpart in Berlin, its modern design caused much controversy. The unconventional spire (known as a flèche) 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, a stained glass window of abstract design that 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.)

Other images

An alternative view of the outside of the new cathedral.

The Baptistry window from inside the cathedral.

The font, a boulder from Bethlehem.

The cross in the apse of the old cathedral, made from burnt wood from the destroyed roof.

Miscellaneous

A television documentary on Coventry Cathedral, narrated by Leo Genn, was broadcast on British television in the 1960s

Trivia

To Say Nothing of the Dog, a Hugo Award-winning novel by Connie Willis, centres around an attempt to rebuild the second cathedral in an imagined future.