The Dean of Coventry, John Witcombe, takes us on a personal tour of Coventry Cathedral, prepared especially for those participating in this month's Community of the Cross of Nails Pilgrimage.
born in 1971 in Magdeburg/Germany my Good father Julian brought me to Coventry for a visit for the first time in my life a few years ago, this place is t h e so hopefully never ending memorial for german & british history which will get us never apart again
I was married here in 1969, and my years at the university from 1965 and then working in the city until 1973 brings back so many great memories. As a cathedral guide, I met people from probably every country in the world.
Thank you for this heartfelt tour. I've always felt close to Coventry Cathedral because as a child in Sunday School in the US I collected pennies, nickels and dimes to help finance the building of the new cathedral. I really appreciate the tour starting at the first cathedral (only last week I watched the Time Team show of that excavation.) And then proceeding forward into present time. From this video I enjoyed seeing the cathedral architecture used or referenced in the new cathedral. I am particularly moved by your mission to promote forgiveness and peace on Earth.
As a coventarian and someone who has grown up with the cathedral asa fixture of our lives l thank you. I am of the Sikh faith and now live away but always love the cathedral complex as a place of amazing spirituality and openess
What a wonderful presentation. I used to live in Coventry and on my way home from school I often visited the old and the New Cathedrals. I recall my dad bringing me to watch the helicopter positioning the metalwork spire.
One of my very favourite places. Full of symbols and beauty. I first saw it as a teenager 45 years ago. The Baptistry window reduces me to tears every time I see it. Great video, thank you.
I came to this video after watching an episode of "Look at life" from 1960, about Coventry (on Talking Pictures TV) Thank you so much Dean Wicombe for this amazing tour of the old and new cathedrals, with all your helpful explanations and personal insights. I found it very moving.The Spirit of reconciliation feels so strong there. I hope to visit for the first time, in the not too distant future.
The cathedral really has stood the test of time. Despite having a mother who grew up Coventry, I never really visited the cathedral until on a school trip back in about 1978 (by this time, we lived many miles away). It was quite stunning then, and it is still stunning. Perhaps because of having relatives in Coventry, I have a fondness for modernist buildings as the city always seems futuristic back in the 1970s.
There was a San Francisco Chronicle Writer in Coventry that night who said the firestorm was so bright that he could read his notes by the light of the flames
Its a terrible shame that they didnt restore the ruined cathedral, rather than build that hideous monstrosity they call the new cathedral. It is so ugly and such a wast of money and materials. Very sad.
Given the devastation of the blitz across the city wouldn't you rather have it spent on rebuilding the city as a whole, rather than just one building. Many other cities felt the same devastation and demolished the ruins, the ruins in Coventry stand as that memorial. The new cathedral may not be your choice of style, but has a place in faith and is reminiscent of many other styles of ecclesiastical design the ruins themselves are still consecrated.. Many love the new building, and as someone who attended services there (and graduated there) the building has an amazing sense of peace and openers, and is a legally protected structure as the the ruins.
I agree. That new Cathedral is ugly as Hell and a slap in the face to what was lost. I am going to start a petition to rebuild the old St. Michael's Cathedral.
