Tuesday 8 July - Sunday 7 September 2025 | Available During Opening Hours Show all dates and times In 2016, we asked the creators behind Brick Wonders and also our new temporary exhibition, Brick Dinos, to build us our very own Coventry Wonder. We chose Coventry's new cathedral because it is both an iconic Coventry landmark and a popular symbol of peace and reconciliation. In celebration of hosting Brick Dinos this summer, we have decided to redisplay this fantastic model at the Herbert. THE CATHEDRAL On the night of 14 November 1940, Coventry was bombed by the German Air Force. St Michael’s Cathedral was hit by incendiary bombs and caught fire. By the morning only the spire and the exterior walls remained. In 1947 an independent commission was set up which recommended that a new cathedral should be built and launched a competition for its design. The competition winner, Basil Spence, proposed a new building which would be linked to the ruins of the old cathedral at a right angle. The foundation stone of the new cathedral was laid by Queen Elizabeth II on 23 March 1956 and the new cathedral was consecrated on 25 May 1962. In a national poll in the 1990s, it was chosen as the nation’s favourite 20th century building. Culture Coventry would like to thank the Woodward Family for the loan of the Lego Coventry Cathedral model.