Inside plans for the UK’s biggest Christian monument – set to be 50 metres tall

In a couple of years, weary travellers driving through Warwickshire will have a new excuse to park up and stretch their legs for an hour or two. Drivers on the M6 and M42 won’t be able to miss a giant concrete band that curves and twists in a loop more than 50m high.

The Coleshill monument, named ‘The Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer’, will become the largest piece of Christian art in the UK when it is completed in 2028. Made with one million white bricks and constructed from 188 differently shaped precast concrete elements, each brick represents the story of a prayer which has been answered.

Architects were first commissioned to design the ‘wall’ – a sculptural, ribbon-like structure known as a Möbius strip – in 2016. Construction began at the end of last year after the project’s £40 million fundraising target was met, with more than 20,000 supporters contributing.

As for what visitors can expect once the project is completed, 10 acres of green space, and footpaths, will surround the wall. The structure itself will top out at 51.5 metres tall and be 80 metres wide, making it over twice the size of secular sculpture the Angel of the North and significantly bigger than Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer, at 30 metres.

An interactive element has also been added, and visitors will be able to read each brick’s answered prayer via a mobile app. Elsewhere on the site will be a visitor centre and a 24/7 prayer room. 

The Eternal Wall of Answered Prayers is a registered charity, and the people behind the project hope the Eternal Wall will attract 250,000 visitors a year, who will be able to access the monument for free. The charity said it was continuing to fundraise for a further £5.7m to make the site fully operational.

More than just for drivers to gawp at on the Ms 6 and 42, the structure will also be visible to those flying into Birmingham Airport. 

Did you see that a mighty labyrinth with beautiful views has opened in Cornwall – and it’s free to visit?

Plus: a new £3 million museum will create a visitor attraction in this waterside town near London.