Rupert Cordeux is fascinated by cathedrals – so fascinated that he builds them himself.
His are smaller versions of the real things, but perfect in every detail.
A dining table at his Stoke Park home is covered with miniatures of some of the most famous English cathedrals: Lincoln, Ely, Gloucester, Canterbury, and many more, each one perfect down to the last gargoyle and flying buttress.
He creates DIY kits of the models which cost up to about £30 and are snapped up by collectors at home and abroad. His biggest market is in eastern Europe, but he was amazed to discover that even London’s Victoria & Albert Museum has a set of his kits.
The attention to detail in his models, all hand-crafted, is astonishing. He visits the cathedrals, paces them out, and takes painstaking measurements using a system he developed. He takes dozens of photos and uses Google Street-view and drone footage to help.
The end results are models which, he reckons, are 95 to 100 per cent accurate. He says: “Other model designers use software to turn photos into artwork but all mine are hand-drawn – that’s almost unique in the world.” His latest model, Lincoln, is his 15th and he says: “When I have done all the English cathedrals I’ll stop”.
There’s more information about Rupert’s models and kits on his website. Go to: rupertcordeux.wixsite.com/modelcathedrals
This story was published in the June edition of Avenews, the newsletter of the Stoke Park Residents’ Group. Our thanks to the editor, Charles Barker, for permission to reprint it here.