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Visitors to Canterbury Cathedral this week have been taken aback to find its medieval interior covered in graffiti-style slogans, part of a new art installation that has drawn serious criticism.
The work, titled "Hear Us", transforms the pillars and walls of the nation’s mother church with brightly coloured lettering and stencil designs asking questions such as, “Are you there?”, “Why all the suffering?” and “Where does love come from?”
The images resembling spray-painted graffiti in a mix of street styles – which are removable – have led some to comment that the cathedral now looks more like “an underground car park in Peckham” than one of Christendom’s most venerated shrines, reports The Times.
The Rev Marcus Walker, a London clergyman, expressed astonishment at the cathedral’s approach, posting on X: “There is something deeply bizarre about the way in which the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury delight in desecrating their sacred space. It feels almost Freudian.”
His remarks have been widely shared and have come to symbolise the disquiet felt by many about the treatment of such an important building and national shrine.
The display has split public opinion. While some visitors have described the work as fresh and engaging, others have been appalled by its intrusion into a sacred space.
A statement from the cathedral admitted that the exhibition had provoked “visceral reactions", with some finding the experience “discomforting” and even “sacrilegious".
The cathedral noted that the graphics though strikingly realistic are in fact temporary stickers that have been “expertly and sensitively applied" and will be removed before the enthronement of the Right Rev Sarah Mullally as the Church of England's new Archbishop of Canterbury early next year.
The Dean of Canterbury, the Very Rev David Monteith, defended the installation, calling it an “authentic expression of human questioning” and a bridge between cultures and generations.
Cathedral officials also noted that graffiti is nothing new in Canterbury, where masons’ marks, pilgrims’ initials and religious symbols have been etched into the stone since the seventeenth century.
The installation was created by poet Alex Vellis and curator Jacquiline Creswell, following workshops inviting people to share the questions they would most like to ask God.
Canterbury Cathedral, founded by St Augustine in 597 AD, has long stood at the centre of English Christianity. It has witnessed royal coronations, the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket, the turbulence of the Reformation and the destruction of war.
Today it remains both a place of prayer and a national symbol, but this latest controversy is reflective of how the CofE continues to navigate modern Britain and Christianity – with many arguing that once again, with the graffiti initiative, it has got it wrong.
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Photo: The Church of England's new Archbishop of Canterbury-designate, Sarah Mullally, speaks following the announcement of her new role at Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, England, 3 October 2025. (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images.)
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