Unfinished work
The apse mosaics as they are today
The apse of St. Luke’s contains 18 square metres of massive fine art mosaics which constitute one of Newham’s most important works of art.
The mosaics, a core reason for St. Luke’s being listed, were sadly vandalised at ground floor level before the CH&CTCRP moved in. The Charity has taken steps to clean and cover the damage appropriately and install a brand new floor. Scaffolding was erected so the stonework could be cleaned.
Now a plan is underway to remove the scaffolding and make some final improvements to make the Apse ready for use as a bespoke venue for things such as music recitals. One idea being worked on is to re-erect the scaffolding and use it to repair the outside coping stones at the top of the south face of the building.
The picture above shows the magnificent mosaics just above the altar area. Below is a shot of the stain glass widows and mosaics at the higher level.
There is a story here. The window on the left depicts St. Luke painting the first icon of Mary and baby Jesus and the one on the right we think is St. Alban next to a thornless rose bush which is a symbol of the Virgin Mary. For a (notionally protestant) Church of England church these images are about as Catholic and one can get given that they depict icons and the thornless rose.
The original Altar at St. Luke's
