Tender Invitation open for specialist mosaic project at Droitwich church
The Archdiocese of Birminghanm has announced that tenders are invited from organisations interested in the conservation and restoration of mosaics at Sacred Heart and St Catherine of Alexandria in Droitwich.
It was recently announced the church had secured a grant from National Lottery players of nearly £190,000, thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
This funding will now go towards the £260,000 project of cleaning and conserving mosaics.
Walter Loveridge Hodgkinson was a main benefactor of the church. He built the church in memory of his wife Catherine. Hubert Galton paid for the mosaics in the Lady Chapel. The architect was Frank Barry Peacock. The building was listed at Grade II* on 11 December 2013.
The mosaics were designed by Gabriel Pippet (1880–1962) and carried out by Maurice Josey, assisted by Fred Oates. They were begun in 1921 and took 12 years to complete. Eight and a half tons of quarter-inch glass mosaics composed of “tessarae” – coloured pieces of Venetian glass. was imported from Venice for the purpose. The influence of the mosaics of Ravenna is very apparent. Indeed, Pippet travelled to Ravenna and Rome to study the mosaics before completing the designs.
The work represents some of the finest venetian glass mosaic artwork in Europe and it welcomes thousands of visitors from across the UK and other parts of the world each year to see the astonishingly beautiful scenes.
But as time has passed the walls have suffered some degradation and need repair.
A detailed Commissioned Work Brief is now available on the parish website and tenders are invited to be received by Friday 10 January 2025. The contract will be awarded by the end of that month.
THE MOSAICS