Llandaff Cathedral does not stand on a hill like most great churches; it sits in a hollow beside the River Taff, so that visitors approach it from above and see the roofline before the doors. It is one of the oldest Christian sites in Wales, and the medieval fabric of nave and arcades survived centuries of ruin, neglect and Victorian restoration. What no one anticipated was the German landmine that fell beside the cathedral in 1941 and tore much of it open. The rebuilding that followed produced the most striking feature of the interior today: a concrete parabolic arch thrown across the nave, carrying Jacob Epstein's aluminium figure of Christ in Majesty, a modern sculpture placed at the heart of a medieval building with a confidence that still divides visitors. The film traces this long sequence of destruction and repair, examines the Welsh episcopal tradition the cathedral represents, and follows its use today as a parish and cathedral church. It is a strong subject for strands on sacred architecture, wartime heritage and twentieth-century religious art.
