Monday Window in Chichester

Here’s a window to cheer on a Monday morning. You’ll find it in Chichester Cathedral, and it’s designed by Marc Chagall the Jewish Modernist painter, who enjoyed working with stained glass too. You’ll find his windows in churches in France, Germany, England and the USA, as well as in Jewish settings. Essentially, this window illustates Psalm 150, a hymn of praise to God suggesting He be praised – noisily – with every instrument to be found, as well as by singing and dancing. That’s what this window illustrates.

Chichester Cathedral came with surprises. This quintessentially English place of worship was built, as so many English cathedrals were, between the 11th and 14th centuries. So it was unexpected to find so many works of art from recent years there: a startlingly bright tapestry designed by John Piper; ‘Noli me tangere’ by Graham Sutherland; murals by Hans Feibusch, exiled from Nazi Germany in 1933; the ‘Reconciliation Tapestry’ designed by German artist Ursula Benker-Schirmer and woven partly in Germany, partly in England tells the story of Saint Richard and is a symbol of reconciliation between Britain and Germany after WWII. 

Chichester Cathedral
John Piper
Hans Feibusch
The Reconciliation Tapestry
Graham Sutherland: ‘Noli me tangere.’

For Ludwig’s Monday Window, hosted this week by PR

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

38 thoughts on “Monday Window in Chichester”

  2. Hello Margaret.
    A great selection of pictures, I like them very much. Especially the last one.
    Unfortunately, I noticed a small mistake in the last picture: it’s not John Piper, but Graham Sutherland.
    Many greetings, Robert

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  6. You have me wondering why I’ve not visited Chichester cathedral already. I generally make time if we’re in a cathedral city and I’ve been to Chichester more than once. I suppose I’ll just have to visit again…

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  9. One of my nephews lives in Chichester but would you believe we’ve never been?! We always see him when he’s visiting his parents for family gatherings 🙂 That window is beautiful and I like all the other modern pieces too. By the way, you can add Switzerland to your list of countries with Chagall stained glass as there’s some in the Fraumünster in Zurich (strict rules against photography however).

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    1. Thanks for all that. Zurich isn’t on my list at thenmoment, but who knows?. Yep, you have to visit your nephew and get that cathedral visited! By the way, did you catch ‘Illuminated: The Frozen light’ on BBC R4 this morning at 9.30? All about the experience of living in Svalbard and observations on the community there. Good stuff!

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