Ecce Homo

On my way back home from the QAA conference at Warwick University I found myself in Coventry with time to spare while waiting for my train back north, so I wandered up to the cathedrals (old and new) to have a look around. I don't think I've been here for a good thirty-five years.

There are few signs of the earliest known cathedral, the only English cathedral to have been destroyed in the Reformation, but the shell of its C15th replacement, really little more than a big parish church elevated in status, remains as a haunting reminder of WW2 bomb damage.

Cleverly linked to it is the stunning 'new' cathedral, built between 1957-62 at a right-angle to the ruins of the former building. It was impressive when I last visited and was just as impressive today.

In the hollow shell of the 'second' cathedral are various pieces of statuary and stonework. One of these is Ecce Homo, Jacob Epstein's uncompromisingly brutal depiction of the suffering Christ, which is the subject of my blip today.