Monday 16 January 2012

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral "One of the Worlds 10 most ugly buildings" CNN

http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/top-10-ugly-buildings-117820

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/10/22/ugliest.buildings/

Meanwhile the Echo writes.
LIVERPOOL’S Metropolitan Cathedral has been named one of the ugliest buildings in the world by a major American news network.

Paddy's Wigwam as it is known in the city was described as “monstrous” and placed at number seven in the CNN online travel feature ‘10 of the world’s ugliest buildings’.
It was the only British building to make the list.
The article said: “There are some monstrous examples of civic architecture in the West – this prime example of late-1960s design being an unlovely case in point.“Far from conjuring images of heavenly repose, the church is more akin to a giant concrete tent, hence its local nickname ‘Paddy’s Wigwam’ (Paddy being pejorative for Catholics of Irish descent).”
A photo of the cathedral carries the caption “What you might get if Optimus Prime was your architect.”
Its inclusion alongside bleak communist architecture, an imposing Vietnamese mausoleum, and a North Korean pyramid has ruffled feathers at the 44-year-old cathedral.
Cathedral dean Anthony O’Brien said: “I would guess it’s somebody that’s never been inside.
“Externally a lot of people who have not been see its harsh concrete, but internally there’s a real sense of peace and light and it’s very spiritual.”
He added: “I was there as a youngster at the time that it opened, and the concrete interior was much barer than it is now. I think what we have got is a modern design of its time which I think serves the celebrations and liturgy of our time.”
Dean O’Brien conceded that the cathedral has not always found favour in Liverpool, however.
He said: “It did make people stop in their tracks and think.
“But now I think we have grown. We have come to love it. Ultimately, the cathedral is meant to be a symbol of God’s presence.
“It needs to work. It needs to serve the uses we put it to and it does that very well.”
He added: “We don’t get worked-up by these things because we have had this for 40-odd years now.”
The Roman Catholic Cathedral is the work of British architect Sir Frederick Gibberd.
It is the seat of the Archbishop of Liverpool Patrick Kelly, spiritual leader of the Northern Province of the Catholic Church in England.
Maintaining the cathedral costs more than £2,000 a day in voluntary donations.
The first building on CNN’s list is the unfinished Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea.
Construction of the 330-metre pyramid began in the 1980s, and is yet to be completed.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/in-the-mix/2012/01/14/liverpool-metropolitan-cathedral-named-one-of-world-s-ugliest-buildings-by-cnn-vote-100252-30121805/

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2 comments:

  1. On a sunny day the interior is world class with light providing the perfect enviroment for reflection,

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  2. This has now been corrected at source

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