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Redemption 2009 will be in Coventry
I was up in Coventry this weekend for a Redemption committee meeting and had some time to explore the city.
It's a city with a long history, though much of it was destroyed by bombing in the second world war.
However, not all of the old city was destroyed. I was fascinated by Ford's Hospital - a half-timbered alms house with a tiny interior courtyard with wooden corner seats for the inhabitants. You can't go inside as the building is in use, but the exterior is well worth looking at.
The churches took a lot of damage, but again, the destruction was not total - Holy Trinity church lost its stained glass, but this has resulted in some really lovely modern glass. I was attracted into the building by noticing the glass from outside, and was rewarded by a young, blond, beardless Christ seated in majesty on a rainbow surrounded by the saints. The church also has a rare Medieval wall painting - a 'doom' - showing the dead rising from their graves and the damned being pushed down into the pit. As the knowledgeable church guides will tell you, you can pick out the alewives (giving short measure?) clearly there among the damned!
Coventry cathedral didn't survive as well as Holy Trinity did. The building was bombed beyond repair, but the outer walls remain and the building has been retained as a reminder of Coventry's work towards peace.
Coventry peace crosses
The cathedral was a much older church that only became a cathedral in modern times and the first bishop of Coventry was to be there during the first world war. One of the very few things to survive the second world war in the interior of the cathedral was his effigy and there is something very poignant about seeing him lying there with the bronze model of the cathedral still held in his hands.
From the old cathedral, you walk down a wide flight of steps to the entrance of the new cathedral. There's good modern architecture and there is bad. This is good architecture - plain and dramatic. It's made of the same red sandstone as the old cathedral, but without the marks left by fire. The outside is plain, but the inside makes dramatic use of modern stained glass.
Here is the south window.
You have to stand well back to get the full impact of this window. I spent five minutes or so, just standing and absorbing it.
If you walk down the cathedral towards the altar, you won't really notice the side windows as they are angled away from you, but if you reach the end and turn around, you will see them, floor to ceiling all the way down each side. Gorgeous, abstract, brilliantly-coloured, stained glass.
Fabulous!
No, I'm not going to post a picture. Pictures don't do it justice.
And Redemption? The convention hotel is bang next to the cathedral. So if you come to Redemption (and you are, aren't you?) then you have no excuse at all for not visiting the two cathedrals.
And the Museum of Transport which is full of cars, motorbikes and commercial vehicles and the like and is both modern and free to enter - and just over the road from the Redemption hotel...
I want to register for this wonderful convention, I hear you say! (you mean there's a convention in addition to Judith's love affair with stained glass?)
BTW, as an extra incentive, did I mention that Paul Cornell who wrote Dr Who episodes like Father's Day and Family of Blood, is now on board as one of our guests. Happy smile! (He doesn't just write well, he's a good speaker too - I've been in the audience)
PS. If you try to register and don't get a confirmation email, let me know.
It's a city with a long history, though much of it was destroyed by bombing in the second world war.
However, not all of the old city was destroyed. I was fascinated by Ford's Hospital - a half-timbered alms house with a tiny interior courtyard with wooden corner seats for the inhabitants. You can't go inside as the building is in use, but the exterior is well worth looking at.
The churches took a lot of damage, but again, the destruction was not total - Holy Trinity church lost its stained glass, but this has resulted in some really lovely modern glass. I was attracted into the building by noticing the glass from outside, and was rewarded by a young, blond, beardless Christ seated in majesty on a rainbow surrounded by the saints. The church also has a rare Medieval wall painting - a 'doom' - showing the dead rising from their graves and the damned being pushed down into the pit. As the knowledgeable church guides will tell you, you can pick out the alewives (giving short measure?) clearly there among the damned!
Coventry cathedral didn't survive as well as Holy Trinity did. The building was bombed beyond repair, but the outer walls remain and the building has been retained as a reminder of Coventry's work towards peace.
Coventry peace crosses
The cathedral was a much older church that only became a cathedral in modern times and the first bishop of Coventry was to be there during the first world war. One of the very few things to survive the second world war in the interior of the cathedral was his effigy and there is something very poignant about seeing him lying there with the bronze model of the cathedral still held in his hands.
From the old cathedral, you walk down a wide flight of steps to the entrance of the new cathedral. There's good modern architecture and there is bad. This is good architecture - plain and dramatic. It's made of the same red sandstone as the old cathedral, but without the marks left by fire. The outside is plain, but the inside makes dramatic use of modern stained glass.
Here is the south window.
You have to stand well back to get the full impact of this window. I spent five minutes or so, just standing and absorbing it.
If you walk down the cathedral towards the altar, you won't really notice the side windows as they are angled away from you, but if you reach the end and turn around, you will see them, floor to ceiling all the way down each side. Gorgeous, abstract, brilliantly-coloured, stained glass.
Fabulous!
No, I'm not going to post a picture. Pictures don't do it justice.
And Redemption? The convention hotel is bang next to the cathedral. So if you come to Redemption (and you are, aren't you?) then you have no excuse at all for not visiting the two cathedrals.
And the Museum of Transport which is full of cars, motorbikes and commercial vehicles and the like and is both modern and free to enter - and just over the road from the Redemption hotel...
I want to register for this wonderful convention, I hear you say! (you mean there's a convention in addition to Judith's love affair with stained glass?)
BTW, as an extra incentive, did I mention that Paul Cornell who wrote Dr Who episodes like Father's Day and Family of Blood, is now on board as one of our guests. Happy smile! (He doesn't just write well, he's a good speaker too - I've been in the audience)
PS. If you try to register and don't get a confirmation email, let me know.
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One of these days I'll even go into the church and have a look at it. :)
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Coventry has many twin towns as part of its international peace project, and Lidice is one of them.
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We're signed up (obviously) and the E21 programme is in progress. Paul Cornell - genius of auctions. He was the best auctioneer I've ever seen at a con when we were at TellyNation.
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Just a little further up the road leading from the hotel to the front of the cathedrals is the Herbert Art gallery which I've spent many a happy school holiday browsing (for free!). Though I believe it's currently being refurbished. I hope it's completed by February and that it still has the paintings of the detail of the (Sutherland) tapestry which hangs in the new cathedral.(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1075/1425003388_207541919d.jpg?v=0 from google images)
It was from the stock of the old Herbert Art gallery that the Transport Museum was born. With both Jaguar and Rolls Royce as major employers in the area, there's plenty of examples of beautiful cars on show.
When we were at the hotel in late March, we also did a bit of sightseeing though I spent most of my time telling The Bloke "and *that* was where X used to be". So much has changed. Even Spon Street has lost a lot of its character. Still, it should be perfect for those who want to do a bit of shopping and touristy stuff.
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