VISIT TO ENGLISH MARTYRS CATHOLIC CHURCH, GORING-BY-SEA, BN12 4UH

Each year English Martyrs Catholic Church welcomes thousands of visitors to their church to view the ceiling as well as the stained glass windows and other artworks. We will be welcomed by their team of volunteers.

Following a visit with his wife and children to the Sistine Chapel in Rome for the beatification of the English Martyrs in 1987, sign-painter Gary Bevans was inspired to paint a copy of the Sistine Chapel frescoes on the ceiling of English Martyrs Church. The frescoes painted by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel from 1508 are regarded as one of the major artistic accomplishments of human civilisation. Bevans realised that English Martyrs Church is the same width as the Sistine Chapel in Rome, though slightly shorter in length and the replica was completed at 2/3 scale of the original.

Bevans had already produced other works of art for the Church, including images of two of the English Martyrs, St Thomas More and St John Fisher, as well as a painting of the Last Supper which unusually includes Mary on Jesus' left, a young child and a Yorkshire Terrier.

For further information check out their website at:- https://english-martyrs.co.uk

Our visit will commence at 11am and the cost is £5. A booking form was circulated to members first with our Chairman's Mini Newsletter for February and then again with the Mini Newsletter for March (on 5 March). There are still a few spaces available for this visit.