Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

Architects throughout the world were invited in 1960 to design a Cathedral for Liverpool which would relate to the existing Crypt, be capable of construction within five years, cost at the current prices no more than one million pounds for its shell, and most important of all, express the new spirit of the liturgy then being radically reformulated by the Second Vatican Council.

Of 300 entries from all over the world, Sir Frederick Gibberd's (1908-1984) design was chosen, and building began in October 1962. Less than five years later, on the Feast of Pentecost, 14 May 1967, the completed Cathedral was consecrated.

People often ask 'Why "Metropolitan"?' One obvious answer is that Liverpool is fortunate enough to possess two mighty symbols of the Christian faith in the two Cathedrals which face each other at opposite ends of the aptly-named Hope Street. Both are dedicated to Christ: the Anglican one to Christ and the Blessed Virgin and the Catholic one to Christ the King, so it helps avoid confusion to refer to one as 'Liverpool Cathedral' and the other as 'The Metropolitan Cathedral.'

But the term "Metropolitan" indicates a wider remit than just Liverpool or indeed Merseyside, for this building is the seat (Greek 'Cathedra') of the Archbishop of Liverpool who is the spiritual leader of all the faithful of the Northern Province of the Catholic Church in England comprising seven dioceses in all.