Luxury vestments galore as Westminster shows its wares

BY HELEN SAXBEE
RIDDEN TREASURES from Westminster Cathedral are currently being shown at the Centenary Exhibition, which opened last week.
Entitled "100 Years of Art, Architecture and Treasures", the show provides a rare opportunity to view designs and plans for the cathedral, together with priceless artefacts and vestments.
It is intended to "celebrate the Faith, Hope and Courage of our Forebears."
Centrepiece for the display
will be a newly-restored scale model of the Cathedral, pictured here with Cardinal Hume.Visitors can see all the original detail drawings and presentation designs by the Cathedral's architect, John Francis Bentley, who died tragically before the buildirig was finished. Among the numerous historical architectural exhibits are plans for Our Lady of Victories, Kensington High Street, and the London Oratory.
Other highlights include Eric Gill's designs for the Stations of the Cross and for his Altar
piece in the Chapel of St George and English Martyrs. Among the treasures from the Sacristy are vestments by Pugin and several beautiful chalices, including one designed for Pope John Paul II.
The exhibition illustrates the development of the "Christian Byzantine style" for which the Cathedral is so famous. Apparently Bentley, a Catholic convert, loathed the suggested Roman Rennaissance style and spent months travelling around Europe before finding greatest inspiration in St Mark's, Venice.