Coventry Cathedral for the new Coventry Cathedral provides an element of unity between the buildings. The foundation stone of the new cathedral was laid by Elizabeth II on 23 March 1956. The unconventional spire (known as a "flèche") is tall and was lowered onto the flat roof by a helicopter, flown by Wing Commander John Dowling in April 1962. The cathedral was consecrated on 25 May 1962, and Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem", composed for the occasion, was premiered in the new cathedral on 30 May to mark its consecration. Coventry's modernist design caused much discussion, but on opening to the public it
History of Coventry Spence and contains the tapestry, "Christ in Majesty" by Graham Sutherland, and the bronze statue "St. Michael and the Devil" by Jacob Epstein adorns the exterior wall. As a result of postwar redevelopment, Coventry now shares in the stereotype of 1960s architecture: concrete and brutalist. The development of Coventry's central business district was unnaturally restricted through the construction of a major orbital ringroad in the early-1970s, leading to a hodge-podge of "mixed use" city zones with no clearly defined functions, aside from the cathedral quarter and a dated 1950s shopping precinct. The construction of the Cathedral Lanes shopping complex in