Celebrate! St Martin-in-the-Fields - whole site re-opens

24/04/08

In April 2008 St Martin-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Square re-opens in renewed and revitalised splendour. After nearly a decade of planning and fundraising and two years hidden behind hoardings, one of London’s most complex building projects nears completion.

The Renewal of St Martin-in-the-Fields, masterminded by Eric Parry Architects, has restored James Gibbs’s 18th century London landmark inside and out, and created iconic new buildings and public spaces.

The £36 million transformation of St Martin’s has benefited from a £15.35 million award from the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as significant contributions from many generous donors in this country, in the US, where Gibbs’s design for St Martin’s was a blueprint for church architecture, and from Hong Kong, reflecting the church’s importance to the Chinese community.

Natural light now floods into the church, which reopened for services last September, bringing it closer to Gibbs’s original, much-imitated Baroque design. The glorious decorative plasterwork of the ceiling has been restored; the pulpit relocated close to its original place, to improve the sightlines for congregation and audiences; and the chancel reordered to allow greater flexibility for worship and concerts. The exterior has been completely restored and cleaned.

The finishing touch for the church itself is the installation of a new East Window, designed by artist Shirazeh Houshiary and architect Pip Horne, to replace the window installed following World War II bomb damage. Consisting of a stainless-steel framework with beautifully etched glass panels, the new window has strong religious, spiritual and architectural resonances. Its abstract design forms a calm, still motif for contemplation and prayer. It was commissioned by the Parochial Church Council with advice from St Martin’s Arts Advisory Panel.

To the north of the church are two striking additions. A glass pavilion on Church Path forms a sparkling entrance to the new spaces below, where the greatest transformation has taken place. It leads down to a sequence of beautiful, fully-accessible and inspirational spaces that house the activities vital to the life of St Martin’s: The Bishop Ho Ming Wah Chinese Community Centre, the new purpose-built music rehearsal room, named after the founder of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner, the Dick Sheppard Chapel and community meeting rooms.

Newly accessible via the pavilion are the Les Routiers award-winning Cafe in the Crypt, which has occupied its transformed home since October, the enlarged and very popular Shop in the Crypt and St Martin’s concerts box office.

Also set in the widened Church Path is a light-well that will bring daylight and ventilation to the new spaces below ground. From its base there is a magnificent view of the restored church spire. Engraved around the light-well is a specially commissioned poem from the Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion.

To the north of Church Path, John Nash’s terrace has been entirely cleaned and restored on the outside, as well as completely re-designed on the inside, to house The Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields, which each year helps thousands of people in need. For the first time, this vital social care work will be undertaken in a single, purpose-designed, flexible, modern and inspirational space.

The official re-opening of the site will be marked with a three week Festival. Celebrate! Festival-in-the-Fields encompasses music, lectures, community days and church services to illustrate all facets of the work of St Martin’s.

A series of church services commemorates St Martin’s links to both the local and global community, with preachers including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Archbishop of Hong Kong and the Bishop of London.

The Festival includes performances from the Chinese community, work on display from The Connection at St Martin’s and an ambitious music programme including a world-class early music series, “Baroque Encounters”, with performances by Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, as well as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Feinstein Ensemble and Fretwork. The final concert will be given by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner and Nicholas Danks.

Eric Parry, the architect whose vision has inspired the Renewal of St Martin’s, will take part in a symposium on 10th May entitled “Sacred Spaces”, in discussion with Old Testament scholar Margaret Barker and Professor Philip Sheldrake of Durham University. St Martin’s “Discovery Day” is an opportunity for the public to explore the new or hidden spaces of the buildings.

HRH The Prince of Wales, Patron of the Renewal of St Martin’s, comments:

“Those who built the church in the 1720s were criticised for its great expense; two hundred and eighty years later, few capital investments have been so worthwhile. The church’s openness to the world, its constant creativity and care of those in need, its international outlook and commitment to people of other faiths are of striking significance in our time.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, says:

“When people come into the Church they’ll see a wonderfully restored, a wonderfully renewed and refreshed building and I’m sure they’ll see worship there that really will speak of something different and bigger; but they will also see a church building, a religious space, set in the middle of a whole cluster of services given to the community.”

The Bishop of London, Dr. Richard Chartres, says:

“Trafalgar Square is a global crossroads. I am very proud of the work that Nick Holtam and the St Martin’s team have done to ensure that at the heart of this World Square there is vivid worship offered in a beautifully restored church with a social care unit, an educational facility and centre for Chinese Christians, all inspired by a common vision of a church that exists to serve the wider world in the spirit of Jesus Christ.”