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Gaia at Durham Cathedral

In summer 2023, we welcomed Luke Jerram's awe-inspiring artwork, Gaia.

Gaia at Durham Cathedral

Over 140,000 people visited us

Over the 9 weeks, 140,000 people visited the cathedral to see Luke Jerram's Gaia

Over 1,400 joined a event

Over 1,400 people booked one of the unique events – from yoga to silent discos

August saw 72% visitor increase

Visitor figures in August, saw an increase of 72% over the same time period in 2022

What is Gaia?

Gaia is a giant illuminated globe installation by UK artist Luke Jerram.

The seven-metre diameter Earth installation gives the unique opportunity to see our home planet on this scale and reflect on the importance of caring for nature.

It features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface and a specially made surround sound composition by BAFTA award winning Composer, Dan Jones, is played alongside the sculpture to give a truly out-of-this-world experience.

Our home as you've never seen it before

At Durham Cathedral, you could gaze up at Earth as it's seen from space, 1.8 million times smaller than the real planet.

Did you spot your home as you walk around the artwork while it slowly rotates?

Gaia at Durham Cathedral

Save our Species project

To coincide with Gaia, artwork from over 200 school pupils from across the region has gone on display in the Cloisters. Working with artist Becky Mackenzie, the ‘Save our Species’ school outreach project is a thought-provoking display of illustrations of extinct or critically endangered species carefully printed onto ceramics.

Find out more

What events were on?

Gaia Lates: Seeing Gaia after hours

As part of Gaia Lates, the cathedral was open from 7pm until 10pm offering a unique after hour viewing of Gaia. These late night openings included live music and street food in the cloisters, along with craft workshops such as stained glass window taster sessions, kombucha making and dried flower crafting. 

Dinner under the earth

As part of the Gaia program there was a once in a lifetime opportunity to dine under the earth. The special dinning experience had a sustainable twist with Chester-le-Street based, community café REfUSE who aim to reduce food waste across the North East creating the three course meal. 

Sunset Silent Disco

In partnership with Tees Valley Music Alliance, visitors danced the night away under Gaia (possibly the world's biggest disco ball). Donning a headset, you could choose a track to dance to and enjoy a unique evening with friends and family.

Morning Yoga

Every Thursday morning for the nine weeks Gaia was present, we held a yoga class underneath Gaia. This yoga class was led by qualified Iyengar based yoga teachers, Debbie McGuigan and Jane Maher and allowed the opportunity to practice yoga in a peaceful yet unusual setting.

Durham Cathedral Institute: Gaia mini series

As part of the Gaia events programme, the Durham Cathedral Institute held three special talks featuring topics such as, the gift of creation, how to be a human in the Anthropocene and looking at the Earth with love and anger. The talks featured guest speakers including Professor Robert Song, Professor of Christian Ethics at Durham University, Canon Professor Simon Oliver who is Van Mildert Professor of Divinity at Durham University and Revd Hannah Malcolm, Curate of Christ the King, Newcastle.

Family Fun

We had a series of crafting activities from making recycled art using cyanotype (sun print) photography process, to creating origami animals with our learning and engagement team under Gaia. There were lots of crafts to get the whole family involved, plus a family activity booklet to learn and entertain as you walked around Gaia and the cathedral.