Chagall Windows

The windows inside this ordinary looking church are unique. The church; All Saints in Tudeley, Kent is the only church in the world to have all its twelve windows decorated by the great Russian artist Marc Chagall.

This; the east window, is a memorial tribute to Sarah d'Avigdor-Goldsmid who died aged just 21 in a sailing accident off Rye. Sarah was the daughter of Sir Henry and Lady d'Avigdor-Goldsmid; the family then lived at the fine Jacobean house Somerhill (now a school) which is situated nearby.

After Sarah's death in 1963, her parents commissioned Chagall to design the magnificent east window. Chagall was initially reluctant to take on the commission, but was eventually persuaded - and when in 1967 he arrived for the installation of the east window and saw the church, he said, 'It's magnificent. I will do them all.'

And over the next 15 years, Chagall designed all the remaining eleven windows, collaborating as usual with glassworker Charles Marq of Reims. . Here is a side window. And this is the scene inside the church.

Well worth a visit.