Reconciliation

I had the opportunity to spend the day in Coventry, so I seized it and wandered around alone.
The Cathedral was rebuilt after the Blitz of November 1940 when Nazi bombers razed much of the city to the ground and killed many hundreds of people.
It was rebuilt adjoining the medieval ruins in a modern style and it is a superb place, full of fantastic art and design - I spent much of the day inside awestruck.
Little of the old city survived, small gems of its past may be discovered, tucked away amid the concrete and glass of 1950's architechture.
I took many photos, but for me this one sums up the place, the old and the new, an uneasy alliance.
This was taken in the Guildhall, a medieval survivor of that horrific night.

Luckily the bombs missed my Mum, who as a young girl spent that night in an air raid shelter with her mother, brothers and sisters and emerged afterwards to a scene of total devestation.
It seems strange to think that if events had turned for the worse, I would not be here today, chasing my history around a midlands city.

DSLR-A700 : f/2.8 : 1/320" : 28mm : ISO 400

Comments

1. I was thinking Elizabethan before I saw the telephone - should be a speaking trumpet! Strange how reflecting on one's history makes you realise what had to happen for us to be here on blipfoto tonight - pretty amazing really. What parallel universe is the other Wendles56 in right now, and the other one and the oth.....

   ~ Wendles56

2. A great tribute to Coventry
   
   In spite of the bad press the city so often gets, there is actually more to it than just that magnificent cathedral.
   
   

   ~ orchid99

3. A great find and photo. I am very grateful that your Mum survived that terrible day.

   ~ hinden

4. What a wonderful story and image to match. The phone is such a subtle message. It's hard to imagine living through that time.
   
   

   ~ togrrrl

5. Wow, what a story. I would be in awe as well wandering about that place. Excellent image.

   ~ pddesigns

6. Excellent choice for blip, perhaps not the most obvious ones.
   
   And it was great reading about your journey in a search for yourself (if I may be presumptuous enough to say that).

   ~ farsidehues

7. This is a beautiful image Rob, I would love to visit a place like this.

   ~ traceyflowerpot

8. great story and shot!

   ~ visualbinam

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