Bucket List: The Sistine Chapel (well, sort of!)

Some bucket list stops require planes and planning. Others are hiding in plain sight; places you’ve passed a dozen times and always meant to visit one day.

From the outside, English Martyrs Church in Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex looks like any other modest parish church. Red brick, low roof, a quiet presence on a suburban street. You could easily pass by without a second glance.

But step inside and it’s as if you’ve walked through a wormhole to Renaissance Rome.

Because within this unassuming church is one of Britain’s most astonishing secrets: a hand-painted, two-thirds-scale recreation of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, created entirely by one man with no formal art training, armed only with ladders, scaffolding and extraordinary patience.

The artist, Gary Bevans, was a parishioner and professional sign writer who visited the Vatican in 1987. So moved was he by the beauty of the Sistine Chapel that, on returning home, he volunteered to paint a version of it right there in Goring. What might have sounded like a passing fancy became a five-year labour of love.

With Vatican approval, Bevans painstakingly reproduced Michelangelo’s masterpiece in acrylics on the church ceiling in his evenings and weekends. The result is remarkable, not just technically accomplished but full of heart. When the original Sistine Chapel underwent its own restoration in the 1990s and new colours were revealed, Bevans returned to adjust his work, ensuring it stayed true to Michelangelo’s vision. The colours glow, the figures breathe and the overall effect is unexpectedly moving.

If I hadn’t written up my Bucket List in May 2023, I might never have made that small detour to investigate this local phenomenon. I’m so glad I did. It’s proof that you don’t always have to travel far for wonder. Sometimes the most extraordinary places are the ones you’ve been driving past all along.

Plan your visit: Details, visiting hours and contact information can be found on the English Martyrs Church website.

Bucket List Item Completed: Sistine Chapel Reproduction, English Martyrs Church, Goring-by-Sea (5 September 2024)