Chichester Cathedral: both a living church and a visitor attraction

As Vanessa says, it's all part of the disconnect between contemporary society and cathedrals generally, something the cathedral is addressing with a major season of events and experiences this year. Behind it all is an important double message: the cathedral is absolutely a place of worship and that remains its primary function, but it is also, and has to be, a major visitor attraction.

Following on from the success of the cathedral’s 950th anniversary celebrations last year, the cathedral has now opened an important new exhibition, Glowing + Alive, celebrating the 60th anniversary of John Piper’s iconic High Altar tapestry.

Alongside the exhibition, there will be talks, tours and creative workshops for all ages, offering a range of ways to engage with one of the most significant works of modern sacred art in Britain.

Last year leaves the cathedral in an encouraging place: “For 950 we think we had about 220,000 people come through the cathedral. Our visitor numbers were more than 30 per cent up which includes quite a number of pilgrimages from the parishes but it is still a significant increase. People were intrigued by what we did and we realised from the comments that we got the balance right between the visual elements and the information.

“And I also think we got the level of detail right. That was something I was worried about. We were having to think about who we would be aiming the exhibition at, and it was certainly for people who came along knowing something about it already but it was also for people who were just visiting, whether they had faith or no faith. But it went very well and I think from our own perspective in terms of providing a visitor experience, we now have more expertise.

“This exhibition now is very, very different. We don't have as many artefacts to look at but visually it is going to be incredibly exciting. Piper's tapestry is significant nationally, I think, because it was one of the very first seriously large modern works of art to be put in a cathedral. It followed on from Graham Sutherland's tapestry in Coventry Cathedral but at the time the Piper in Chichester was deemed very revolutionary. It was abstract rather than pictorial and it was very modern and very colourful in the midst of a mediaeval cathedral. People immediately commented that they either loved the fact that it was in a church and this was the church trying to come up to date or people loathed it and thought it was completely out of place. It is still slightly controversial in some respects but by and large I think people now love the colour it gives the cathedral. Once you come in from the West End there's this splash of colour which is so striking.”

Part of the appeal is that it is both very much 1950s/1960s and also timeless: “The abstract symbols are definitely timeless. What is perhaps not so timeless is the way Piper depicted the four elements at the top of the tapestry. Some of them look very dated both in terms of the colours and the shapes that were used in the 1950s and 1960s. They are what I call Sputnik shapes but when it was produced in the 1960s it was very exciting.

“But I think maybe now it needs interpretation in a way it didn't then. People don't necessarily understand what it is all about in an increasingly secular world, and certainly some of the symbolism needs an explanation now in a way perhaps it didn't back in the 1960s.

“(Dean Walter) Hussey (1909-1985) wanted to put something modern there. He had this real idea that contemporary art should serve the church, and he always wanted the very best artists whether musically with Benjamin Britten or whether artistically with Piper.”

Now, with this year's anniversary, the emphasis is very much on getting people to come in and see it, all part of the wider context of stressing that the cathedral is open to everyone.

“The cathedral has to be a visitor attraction but we are multi-purpose. Our primary purpose is still the worship of God but somebody said to me not long ago ‘I didn't know you still did services at the cathedral.’ The fact is that the cathedral is a living church and there are hundreds of services here a year.”

Part of the problem is a lack of signage; part of the problem is decreasing awareness that you enter a church through the west door: “We need much clearer signposting. People are confused about how to get in. But the point is that it is open to everybody. The difficulty is people say that they didn't realise that they could come in. They think it might be a closed club but it really isn’t. And we don't charge entry. We do encourage donations but it is free to come in and we want everyone to come in.

“The other problem is that people tend to think that we are very wealthy and that we are very much funded. We are not. We are running at a huge operating deficit. We have to create our own funds. That's why we want people to come in. But we also love having people come in. We want to welcome everybody regardless of their faith or lack of it. Chichester Cathedral is one of the country's great heritage attractions but we are very aware that we need to make it a very enjoyable visitor experience for everybody.”

Alongside the exhibition, the Cathedral is hosting a series of events, specialist tours and creative sessions designed to help visitors explore the tapestry and the Cathedral’s artistic heritage in greater depth.

Programme highlights include:

• ASHES TO FIRE (February 13-April 5). A complementary exhibition of new artworks by contemporary British artist Alice Carter. Presented in the Cathedral’s South Transept, ASHES TO FIRE offers a dialogue with Piper’s tapestry through seven large-scale oil paintings tracing the journey from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost. (Free)

• Slow Art Day at Chichester Cathedral – Saturday, April 11. A guided session encouraging slow contemplation of art, exploring five artworks in the Cathedral including Piper’s tapestry followed by discussion of how art functions within sacred spaces. (Tickets available)

• Tour: The Art of Chichester Cathedral – from April 29. A monthly guided introduction to the Cathedral’s outstanding art collection, from medieval wall paintings and sculpture reliefs to Victorian glass and major contemporary commissions. Running on selected Wednesdays. (Tickets available)

• Tour: Textiles and the Fibre Arts – from June 27. Specialist tours celebrating the Cathedral’s textile heritage and marking the 60th anniversary year of the Piper tapestry, exploring fibre art from Victorian embroideries to contemporary textile pieces. (Tickets available)

Glowing + Alive runs until November 15. Entry to Chichester Cathedral and the exhibition is free, though donations are welcome.