More air raids followed in April. Fire destroyed Coventry's centre and left its cathedral in ruins. A replica of his cross still stands there, in the ruins of St. Michael's, behind a simple stone altar made of the rubble of the destroyed cathedral. The ruined medieval cathedral remains consecrated, a sanctuary dedicated to reconciliation. The ruins of the tall red outer walls enclose a quiet place of red flagstones and pots brimming with flowers.
People sit on wooden benches to talk quietly, read, or pray.
Miraculously, the 300-foot spire stands unharmed and since 1987 has had a full peel of 12 bells to ring in services and festivals. The new Cathedral Church of St. Michael, completed in 1962, stands connected to the ruins of Old St. Michael's by a great 50-foot porch, supported by gracefully thin red sandstone columns. Its outer walls, seven stories high, curve gently outward and around sawtooth bays of stained glass. Perhaps its most impressive sight is the baptismal font, carved from a large, rough boulder of Bethlehem stone, surrounded by stained glass. On the opposite end of the cathedral an enormous tapestry of Christ in Glory covers the entire wall behind the simple concrete altar.