I am intrigued by the the philosopher Alain de Botton especially his book, ‘Religion for Atheists’

He argues that while the claims made by belief systems are false, some aspects of religion are useful & have relevance to secular society

He borrows the notion of having inspiring buildings as he feels they give people a better perspective on life & a focal point in which to meet

I wanted to reflect on these ideas in one such building & I chose one that was completely incongruent with its surrounding community when it was built in the 13th Century

Another reason was that this building contains a work by the sculptor, William Pye. Although his piece is used as a font, an underlying design philosophy was that it would also be an attraction to the 90% of people who visit the cathedral not to worship but to visit & marvel at the building

The image is therefore designed to capture the majesty of the building & contextualise the sculpture in order to help consider de Botton’s proposition