10 Mega Facts About Liverpool Cathedral
It's the largest cathedral in Britain
Liverpool Cathedral covers around 9,687 square metres (104,000 sq ft), making it the largest cathedral in the UK and one of the largest church buildings in the world.
It took 74 years to build
Construction began in 1904 and was finally completed in 1978, spanning two World Wars and enormous social change.
It was designed by a 22-year-old
Architect Giles Gilbert Scott won the design competition while still in his early twenties, beating many established architects.
The architect also designed the red telephone box
The same man who designed Liverpool Cathedral later created Britain's iconic K2 and K6 red telephone kiosks.
Its tower dominates Liverpool's skyline
The central tower rises to approximately 101 metres (331 feet), making it one of the tallest structures in the city.
It has one of the world's highest and heaviest peals of bells
The cathedral houses 13 bells, including the mighty Great George, which weighs over 14 tonnes and is among the largest bells in the world.
The organ is enormous
With over 10,000 pipes, Liverpool Cathedral's organ is one of the largest pipe organs in the United Kingdom.
The main tower can be climbed
Visitors can take a lift and climb to viewing platforms offering spectacular panoramic views across Liverpool, the Mersey, North Wales, Lancashire and beyond on a clear day.
The interior could fit a skyscraper-sized building inside it
The vast central space creates one of the largest uninterrupted cathedral interiors in Europe, giving visitors a genuine sense of scale that photographs struggle to capture.
It wasn't always guaranteed to be finished
Funding shortages, two World Wars, economic downturns and changing architectural tastes threatened the project several times, yet the cathedral was ultimately completed almost exactly as Scott envisioned.
Bonus Fact:
Liverpool is one of the few cities in the world with two cathedrals facing each other along the famous Hope Street axis—Liverpool Cathedral at one end and Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King at the other.
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