Coventry the architectural design (in 1940 the tower had no internal wooden floors and a stone vault below the belfry) it survived the destruction of the rest of the cathedral. The new Coventry Cathedral was opened in 1962 next to the ruins of the old. It was designed by Sir Basil Spence. The cathedral contains the tapestry "Christ in Glory" by Graham Sutherland. The bronze statue "St Michael's Victory over the Devil" by Jacob Epstein is mounted on the exterior of the new cathedral near the entrance. Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem", regarded by some as his masterpiece, was written for the
Coventry Blitz the mass grave in London Road Cemetery. Around 80 per cent of them had been killed in the raids of 14/15 November 1940 and 8–10 April 1941. Immediate reconstruction was undertaken by a committee headed by motor-industry magnate William Rootes. In the aftermath of the war, Coventry city centre was extensively rebuilt according to the Gibson Plan compiled by the town planner Donald Gibson: a then innovative scheme which created a pedestrianised shopping precinct. Coventry Cathedral was left as a ruin, and is today still the principal reminder of the bombing. A new cathedral was constructed alongside the ruin in