AN art exhibition commemorating those who lost their lives in the Holocaust is expected to host thousands of visitors.

The exhibition, 6 million +, every person counts, which has taken over the north aisle of Ripon Cathedral, is an artwork made up of six million buttons, each one representing someone killed in the Holocaust.

Artist Antonia Stowe initially created the exhibition in 2006 for Holocaust Memorial Day and has since taken it around the UK.

Schoolchildren from around North Yorkshire have been encouraged to collect white buttons which they will add to the installation.

The Dean of Ripon, the Very Reverend Keith Jukes, said: “I can honestly say that I have never, before or since, attended anything so moving and challenging.

“This event not only commemorates those who lost their lives in the concentration camps during the Second World War, but also remembers victims since then of the genocides that still go on in our world today.”

On Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27, from 6pm, an Interfaith Reflection service will be held in the cathedral to remember those who died.

The exhibition is on show at the cathedral until February 20.

For more information call Ripon Cathedral Office on 01765-603462.