The Many-Splendoured Thing

This is the east window of St. Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, London.

Recently I made my way across Trafalgar Square for a lunch time concert in St Martin’s in the Fields. The sun was shining, London workers with their snacks, and tourists enjoying the space, or visiting the National Gallery; two children were intrigued by a maintenance man paddling in the fountain waters, wearing thigh- high waders. Inside the church, a full appreciative audience waited quietly for the concert to start. We were facing these windows and I found myself taking part in a contemplative atmosphere , searching for meanings relevant to the busy daily life in the Square outside.

After the concert I was not the only one asking for an explanatory leaflet about the vision, the artist, and the history of these windows. The original brief emphasised light as a key theme; the potential starting point or subject was that of ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ (Gen 28:18) which was the text chosen in 1726 at the Consecration of the Church. St. Martin’s long tradition of involvement with people looking for shelter and food in London is supposed to have inspired Francis Thompson to encourage the disconsolate (or himself?) in his poem : “upon thy so sore loss/ Shall shine the traffic of Jacob’s ladder/ Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross”

“O world invisible, we view thee,/ O world intangible, we touch thee,/ O world unknowable, we know thee,/ Inapprehensible, we clutch thee!

Does the fish soar to find the ocean, /The eagle plunge to find the air-/That we ask of the stars in motion/ If they have rumour of thee there?.....(1)

Designed by the Iranian-born artist Shirazeh Houshiary the windows were installed in 2008. I gleaned other insights reading about the artwork: it depicts a cross as if seen reflected in water; the ‘warp and weft’ design of the framework evokes the agony of the cross or the desperate sadness of being homeless. The central ellipse creates an icon of contemplation: ”It can be seen as the light at the centre of existence, the glory of God and the light with which He illuminates our lives; or it can be seen as universal, transcending cultures.”(2)

1. In No Strange Land by Francis Thompson (1859-1907): PoemHunter.com (Poem 42 page3)
2. St Martin’s Press Release in 2008
3. Photograph TQ3080: www.geograph.org.uk/1072810