January 14, 2009
Crown of Glass - Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
Another find on YouTube - and it's the testament of another big commission.
Part 1 of 2 of a 15 minute film from 1967 called Crown of Glass, produced by Shell Film, about the making of the stained glass 'Crown' for Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, which is the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool, England. The stained glass was designed by John Piper and fabricated by Patrick Reyntiens.
A bit of a relic, as an example of 60's industrial documentary filmmaking, but here goes ...
To get a better sense of what it actually looks like, here is an image of the 'Crown' from one angle by flickrite 'stephen_dedalus' -
Part 2 of the video, many more flickr images and a curious recent occurence, with comments, after the fold ...
Crown of Glass - The Film
part 2 of 2 -
The film seems to be in rough shape. Shell Film made some pretty stylized documentaries, but I wouldn't be surprised if the curious yellow/orange glow throughout the film is due more to fugitive film stock from the 1960's, and for sure it looks like this print has gone through several rounds of copies. Nevertheless, it is a rare look at Piper and Reyntiens in their heyday, and all the process footage is invaluable for stained glass historians (not to mention future conservators).
Curiously, the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral website does not appear to mention Piper or Reyntiens, at least in it's Flashy Tour of the Cathedral. Though the tour does mention many other artistic works in the Cathedral, with full credit to the artists involved. It's rare for a church website to do this, and makes it all the more odd to leave out Piper and Reytiens.
In the Top Ten?
I should note that this building was recently named by the editors at virtualtourist.com as one of the top ten ugliest buildings in the world. Though the text acknowledges that the interior is perhaps not too bad -
The people who work here must be so sick of the space capsule jokes. Even those who find the building’s shell a little, well, “spacey,” have to admit the building’s circular interior is pretty spectacular.
Panoramic Interior Shot by 'ahisgett'
Even if some consider this an ugly building, there is no doubt it is a very much photographed building, according to Flickr.
This is from just a quick search, decide for yourself ...
The spaceship aspect from 'Geoff_B'
View from the Anglican Cathedral from 'Catherine_Sparks'
Daylight from Yoshef
Another daylight piece, this time from 'smohundro'
Exterior by 'romeo66'
here's the modern cathedral right out of an Orson Welles movie.
Exterior at night from 'rob the tog'
Interior shots - from the flickrsets -
A good Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral flickrset by tony stanley -
another flickrset called Liverpool Catholic Cathedral by 'jstevew' -
and a Liverpool flickrset with some closeup shots from tortipede -
In all, for me, this is more a case of "ugly is in the eye of the beholder". The more I see the images on flickr, the more I like this building.
For instance, I like the crazy entrance.
Relief sculpture at the entrance - via 'that_james'
As much as I tend to really not like stark poured concrete walls, it works here when mixed with the modernist art and the play of colors from the stained glass - via 'ian-S'
Longevity Question - Technical
Seeing that this is definitely a case of visionary architecture trumps practical construction, I wonder about the longevity of this building. Modernist buildings, generally, don't age well. Modernist architects were never good at thinking of the long view of things.
I've seen one reference to there being a problem with leaks. Frankly, looking at the film and knowing what I do know about the fabrication techniques, I'd be more surprised if the 'Crown' itself didn't leak. I'd be curious to hear the story of how well the building is holding up after 40+ years. I'll post updates if I hear anything.
And one other thought as a postscript, for those purely interested in the technical processes of stained glass- I've not ever heard of anyone else using fiberglass threads to 'reinforce' faceted glass/Dalle-de-Verre. Did this really help in giving the panels added strength? Have any other studios followed suit and used this procedure? I haven't heard of any other studios doing this and I find it a little hard to believe the fiberglass strings would add much structural support.
Other opinions welcome, of course.
Postscript - For general interest in the stained glass of Piper and Reytiens, there is a very good Flickr group devoted entirely to the work of Piper/Reytiens. Lots of great stuff here.