AN ARTWORK which began life as a chestnut tree in the grounds of Durham Cathedral before travelling to a Papal college in Rome finally came home today (Thursday, May 23).
The 150-year-old tree, which grew in the cathedral’s mason’s yard, was turned into ‘Beda Bede’, or ‘Young Bede’ – a sculpture depicting the Venerable Bede – by renowned North-East artist Fenwick Lawson.
The carving was made for the 160-year-old Pontifical Beda College, a Rome-based training college for Catholic priests, where it was unveiled on Bede’s feast day, May 25, in 2001 and stands to this day.
But the piece has also returned home, after a bronze cast was produced for Durham University’s Palace Green Library, just yards from the cathedral.
Mr Lawson unveiled the cast today (Wednesday, May 23), as part of the countdown to the Lindisfarne Gospels returning to Durham this summer.
The priceless 8th Century manuscript will be on display in Palace Green Library from July to September and visitors will pass the Beda Bede as they leave the exhibition.
The 81-year-old artist, originally from South Moor, near Stanley, County Durham, said he carved the piece in the style of an earlier Bede sculpture he created for the revered Anglo-Saxon scholar saint’s monastery, in Jarrow, in 1973.
“I couldn’t have been more surprised when I was asked to make the piece for Rome,” he said.
“But this is its home. Bede was a Sunderland lad. His bones are in the cathedral. This is his home.”
Today’s ceremony, conducted while builders continued to prepare Palace Green Library for the Gospels exhibition, was led by Professor Paul Murray, dean and director of the university’s Centre for Catholic Studies.
He said he was immensely thankful to Mr Lawson and the return of the piece to Durham “completes the circle”.
The university has not yet decided where the cast will be placed in the long-term.
Tickets for the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibition are available now, priced £7.50 for adults, £6.50 for concessions and free for under fives. For more information, visit lindisfarnegospels.com
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