New Zealand Stories - Battle at the Basilica

Is it unique art worth restoring or preserving? Would New Zealand be poorer for not having that building there?

– Parishioner Robyn Bascand

We went every Sunday at nine o’clock and we just so miss that family. It’s very sad to go through there. It’s a place we avoid going now.

– Parishioner Mary Witteman

What was alarming was seeing the building move next to me, as I was running, moving vertically up and down. That’s when the southern bell tower actually exploded.

– Heritage consultant Carole-Lynne Kerrigan, who was at work at Christchurch's Church of the Blessed Sacrament during the ow on the 22 February quake

Plans to remove the entire dome of the cathedral in one piece were well underway when a series of further shocks in June sent that idea out the window. As he was working on preparations for the dome’s removal, site supervisor Murray Flett got the ride of his life in the crane’s basket; the whole structure swayed dramatically from side to side.

– Publicity material for Battle at the Basilica