Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Catholic cathedral hunts missing doors

Staff from Christchurch's Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament hope the church's missing bronze doors are in the safekeeping of a parishioner. 

Lance Ryan, chairman of the cathedral's management board, said police had been notified because of the history and value of the doors, but he hoped there was nothing sinister in their disappearance.

"A person, who we believe is a parishioner or friend of the cathedral, made themselves known to one of the staff working on the cathedral site and said they were collecting the doors to put them in safekeeping,'' he said.

"The person looked familiar to the staff member but he did not know their name."

The Ria Bancroft doors are 51 centimetres high and 79cm wide and have a replacement value of $185,000.

The left door depicts the death of Jesus Christ and the right shows the resurrection.

They were designed as ''church art'' for use in a major church, and there was almost no sale value, Ryan said.

"Because of their distinctiveness, having been seen by thousands of people over a long time, with much publicity in newspapers, postcards and books, the doors are instantly recognisable as stolen property for the next couple of generations," he said.

They were commissioned from Ria Bancroft, the former English-born sculptor who lived in Christchurch from 1962, and were considered her most significant work of the 1970s. 

They were modelled by Bancroft in Christchurch and later cast in bronze by a foundry in England. 

They were installed in the cathedral chapel in June 1977 on the Feast of Corpus Christi.

Christchurch Detective Sergeant Richard Quested said all scrap-metal dealers were being asked to keep an eye out for the doors.