Record-breaking total of more than 120,000 people visit Museum of the Moon exhibition at Rochester Cathedral
14:15, 06 March 2020
updated: 15:40, 06 March 2020
A record-breaking total of more than 120,000 people visited the Museum of the Moon exhibition at Rochester Cathedral.
The inflatable art installation, which is a giant replica of the moon, proved a huge success with 120,307 people coming to see the attraction during the three week-long exhibition before it closed on Wednesday.
Now, Rochester Cathedral has revealed plans for two more attractions it hopes to bring to Kent this year.
“We have got the world’s longest model brick bridge coming for the summer holidays,” said Simon Lace, chapter clerk at the cathedral.
“This is something that’s owned by the Institute of Civil Engineering. They are loaning it to us for the summer.
“It’s a 34-metre long suspension bridge and, alongside the bridge, we will have lots of model-making and bridge-building activities for families.
“That’ll be for the whole of August.
“Then, in October this year, we’ll have a light show.
“People can come to the cathedral and see the inside of the cathedral lit up with amazing colours, again on a theme of space.
“This year, we are trying to broaden our audience and attract new people through and the proof of the pudding is, as we demonstrated last year, with a huge increase in visitors, we also get an increase in people attending our services so it’s working.”
When asked what the reaction of visitors to the exhibition had been, Mr Lace replied: “I think it’s been delight and awe.
“It’s been amazing to watch people whose jaws have literally dropped when they have turned the corner and seen this gigantic globe hanging from the cathedral’s nave.”
Exit surveys have indicated 21% of visitors had never visited the cathedral before and Mr Lace has been delighted to welcome new people to Rochester Cathedral, which hosted the 25ft-high Knife Angel and a crazy golf course last year.
He said: “We are exposing an entirely new audience to what the cathedral has to offer.
“That is the gist of what we are trying to do. Our mission is to try and bring people to God.
“But it’s very difficult to do that if we can’t get them inside the cathedral.
“A lot of people have been to see the moon and they have seen the cathedral in all its wonder.
“One other thing the survey has shown is a lot of people have said that they have been in the last 12 months, and it’s because they have been for the golf and they have been to see the Knife Angel.
"So people are returning to see the cathedral and all those barriers that prevent people coming – people thinking it’s an elitist organisation, people thinking it’s unfriendly and it’s cold – [they can see] it’s not at all like that.
“It’s a community space. It always has been.
“We want more and more people to come and enjoy the cathedral – for whatever reason they choose to visit.”
But Mr Lace admitted the major influx of people to the place of worship has meant a busy few weeks for volunteers.
“No one has done any other work in the cathedral in the last three weeks,” he said.
“This is almost the first time I have sat at my desk in that time!
“We have had to bring in people from all over the place to help, simply because we don’t normally get these kind of numbers.
“In the half-term week, we had nearly 60,000 people. It’s amazing.
“We have had to call on help and our wonderful volunteer team have been absolutely fantastic.”
The moon is now off to The Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, USA, until April 13 before heading off to Art Rock, Saint-Brieuc, France, from May 29-31.
It is then in the UK again, this time at Bristol Cathedral from August 7-31 and Durham Cathedral from September 12 until November 6.
