A CATHEDRAL is to host an exhibition of photographs by its own dean.

Durham Cathedral will host Landscapes of Faith, the first photography exhibition of the Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove, the Dean of Durham.

The show will explore relationships between place and people, with a focus on how landscapes have shaped Christian history.

An Oxford University graduate, the future Dean was ordained as a deacon in 1975 and as a priest in 1976.

He moved to the North-East in 1982, becoming vicar of Alnwick, Northumberland.

Following spells in Coventry and Sheffield, he became Dean of Durham in 2003. He is also rector of Durham University’s St Chad’s College.

He said: “I have always loved great architecture and this has been a strong influence on my photography.
“My chief inspiration has undoubtedly been Durham’s magnificent Romanesque Cathedral and its surroundings on the wooded peninsula.
“It is a privilege to have begun to get to know this marvellous building intimately by living and working in this incomparable environment; photography is one way of appreciating and interpreting its splendour.”

The exhibition Landscapes of Faith: Images of Durham and North-East England will be in Durham Cathedral’s Galilee Chapel from Tuesday, November 13, to Sunday, December 9. Entry is free.

Images will be sold in aid of the Cathedral’s Open Treasure renovation project. Some will be used in Landscapes of Faith: the Christian Heritage of North-East England, a book due to be published next year to coincide with a loan of the Lindisfarne Gospels to Durham.