The Cross Church

Cladding the sanctuary’s apse in hand-set mosaic across three gold-ground arched panels, framed by the church’s marble colonnade, depicting Christ’s Resurrection and the events surrounding it.

The Resurrection, where Christ rises above the empty tomb in radiant white and red, arms open, haloed within a great sunburst medallion of gold, blue and green rays patterned with Coptic crosses. Two angels kneel in adoration on either side. At the tomb’s entrance below, the Lamb of God stands on an altar table, bearing the cross-staff and banner of victory, blood flowing into the chalice.

On the left side, Christ descends into Hades to raise Adam and the righteous dead, the rescued figures reaching up with the keys of the underworld, set against the hillside city of Jerusalem with Golgotha’s three crosses above.

On the right side, the three Myrrh-bearing Women arrive at the tomb and are met by the angel who announces the Resurrection, again set against Jerusalem and the three crosses on the horizon.

All figures are hand-set mosaic with painted detail worked into the surface, set against a luminous gold tessera ground.