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Coventry (Places of interest)

St. Michael's Cathedral is Coventry's best-known landmark and visitor attraction. The original 14th century cathedral was largely destroyed by German bombing during World War Two, leaving only the outer walls and spire. The new Coventry Cathedral was opened in 1962 next to the ruins of the old. It was designed by Basil Spence and contains the tapestry Christ in Glory by Graham Sutherland and the bronze statue St Michael's Victory over the Devil by Jacob Epstein. Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, regarded by some as his masterpiece, was written for the opening of the new Cathedral.

The spire of the ruined cathedral forms one of the Three Spires which have dominated the city skyline since the 14th century, the others being those of Christ Church (of which only the spire survives) and Holy Trinity Church (which is still in use).

Another major visitor attraction in Coventry city centre is the free-to-enter Coventry Transport Museum, which has the largest collection of British-made road vehicles in the world. The most notable exhibits are the world speed record-breaking cars, Thrust2 and ThrustSSC. The museum received a major refurbishment in 2004 which included the creation of a striking new entrance as part of the city's Phoenix Initiative project. The revamp saw the museum exceed its projected five-year visitor numbers within the first year alone, and it was a finalist for the 2005 Gulbenkian Prize.

The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum is a major art gallery in the city centre. About 4 miles from the city centre and just outside Coventry in Baginton is the Lunt Fort, a reconstructed Roman fort. The Midland Air Museum is situated just within the perimeter of Coventry on land adjacent to Coventry Airport and near to Baginton.

The city's main Police Station in Little Park Street also hosts a museum of Coventry's Police Force. The museum, based underground, is split into two sections - one representing the history of the city's Police Force, and the other compiling some of the more unusual, interesting and grisly cases from the force's history. The museum is funded from charity donations - viewings can be made by appointment.

Major improvements continue to regenerate the city centre. The Phoenix Initiative reached the final shortlist for the 2004 RIBA Stirling Prize and has now won a total of 16 separate awards. Further major developments are potentially afoot, particularly the Swanswell Project, which is intended to deepen Swanswell Pool and link it to Coventry Canal Basin, coupled with the creation of an urban marina and a wide Parisian-style boulevard. A possible second phase of the Phoenix Initiative is also in the offing, although both of these plans are still on the drawing-board. IKEA's first town-center multi-storey store and the redevelopment of the Belgrade Theatre are the two major developments currently in progress. (See IKEA Coventry blog [2] to view progress).

Coventry City Football Club have also recently started playing at their new home, The Ricoh Arena, a 32,000 capacity stadium in the Foleshill area of the city. The old stadium has now been demolished to make way for new housing.

Coventry City Farm is a small farm in an urban setting. It is mainly to educate city childern who might not get out to the countryside very often.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Coventry