Coventry: Coventry Cathedral, Old and New

This 1968 photograph shows the recently completed modern Coventry Cathedral beside the ruins of the Medieval Parish Church Cathedral of St. Michael, commonly referred to as the Old Coventry Cathedral. The old cathedral was heavily damaged in 1940 by bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe.

Basil Spence was selected to be the architect of the new St. Michael’s Cathedral in 1950. An important factor was that his design called for the preservation of the old cathedral as a garden of remembrance.

The old cathedral and it’s modernist counterpart together make one living church that has become a symbol of faith and reconcilement for Europe.