Last chance to catch spectacular Peace Doves art installation

It’s your last chance to catch the spectacular art installation featuring 18,000 paper doves at Liverpool Cathedral.

Peace Doves is a mass participation installation created by renowned sculptor and artist Peter Walker, accompanied by a soundscape from composer David Harper.

It was originally scheduled to open last May but was postponed due to the pandemic.

Peter first created the ‘Peace Doves’ installation in the UK’s only medieval three-spired Cathedral.

Consisting of 20,000 paper doves, the artwork was suspended in the nave of Lichfield Cathedral between December 2018 and January 2019.

Messages of peace were written on individual doves by children from over 70 schools from the surrounding area.

Reaction in Liverpool

The Dean of Liverpool, The Very Revd Dr Sue Jones, said: “I have been reading some of the prayers and messages written on the doves from people, both young and old, they are incredibly moving.

“From people paying tribute to those they have lost, to those wishing for better times and, of course, many wishing for peace.

“I hope that people will visit the installation and appreciate its beauty. I hope that people will come and stand, sit or lie under the installation and look up at the doves and experience a sense of serenity and peace.

“As a cathedral, we offer this space and this installation for you to reflect on the difficult times we have all been living through and we pray it will give comfort and joy.”

Peter Walker added: “This is the first artwork to be shown since the Cathedral re-opened and it has been created by the hands of the local community.

“Thousands of children have participated in this project, writing messages of peace, hope and love onto the doves and I think that’s a really important thing to be doing at this time.”

The installation is free to view and will run until 30 August 2021.