Restoration tourism

TO ensure a quality visitor experience during the year-long £2million restoration of St Columb's Cathedral, which began on Monday, a series of vibrant projects are planned offering unique tourism opportunities as the marathon revamp gets underway.

Among the many initiatives currently being considered are a 'restoration tour' package, living history guides in full costume, school-based projects and the creation of a mini-museum displaying some of the church artefacts based at one of the period houses at St Columb's Court.

To prevent the inside of the church being sectioned off from visitors and parishoners, imaginative use of hoarding will be undertaken, with storyboards alternating with 'peepholes' so that the skills of the restoration team can be seen as they go about claiming back the ancient stone walls from the ravages of time.

To the delight of parishoners and Cathedral employees, a state-of-the-art lighting system and new heating system will also be installed as the rejuvenation of the 17th Century Cathedral is sympathetically reclaimed from the wear-and-tear that has eaten into its very fabric. Already completed is the work on the bell tower, and shortly work will get underway to protect the Cathedral's two organs from an invasion of dust and grit.

Each stage of the restoration will be extensively photographed and, where possible there are plans to record progress on film to add a new dimension to the Cathedral website and archive material so that even those overseas will be able to watch the progress towards environment-proofing the City's most visited tourist attraction. It will culminate in the publication of a high-quality, glossy book commemorating the rejuvenation of the historically priceless Reformation Church.

According to the Dean of St Columb's Cathedral, Rev Dr William Morton, the work will involve extensive restoration of the walls and work on the roof which have both suffered from weathering and movement, but he is excited by the prospect of rededicating the restored church to God and His people again in time for next Christmas.

Asked what the restoration work means to him, the Dean said: "It is very positive step forward for us and, hopefully, the end result will be that the Cathedral is restored from top to bottom, and as the construction work is going on we will be promoting the work in a positive way which will manifest itself through imaginative schemes and initiatives showing the work off to best effect.

"It will allow us to offer a very different visitor experience as the work takes place, and we will be making extensive use of the Alexander Chapel for a change," said Dean Morton.

The building work is the biggest project undertaken at St Columb's since the building in the mid-1800s of the Chancel, and Dean Morton described the restoration as a 'massive' project, noting that it would even include intricate work on the stained glass windows.

"They will not be taken out, but they will be restored," he said, adding: "We have not seen the final timetable for the works, but how we include the restoration in the everyday life of the Cathedral is a major visionary step for us. It will be recorded pictorially, there will be living history, and we are taking steps to ensure we provide an alternative visitor experience throughout."

The new lighting system is also an exciting prospect for the Dean, who reveals that the Cathedral will be the first ecclesiastical building in Ireland to have this particular style of lighting.

Also welcoming the restoration is Ian Bartlett, who is a member of the Select Vestry, who stressed the importance of the positive benefits of the work, adding that particularly welcome was the installation of a new heating system.

"The old boiler was very unreliable and you did not know if it was going to come on or not whenever you set it. At the end of this the heat will be directed where it is needed. At the moment we are blowing air up into the ceiling.

"We will also be installing heating in the Chancel and Sanctuary, but it is very sensitive work so we have to be very careful about the tuning of the organ as the tuning can be effected if it is too warm. The Chancel and Sanctuary are among the coldest areas of the Cathedral, but we do want to try and provide some comfort without compromising the organ," he said.

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