Past Events and Exhibitions

Over the years Dorchester Abbey has hosted a wide range of significant events and exhibitions, including those below. We actively support contemporary arts events and installations and have an ongoing programme of events which can be viewed here.

Dorchester Festival (May biennial event – next 2024)

Dorchester Festival is a Festival with more than 30 events held in Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire which raises money for Dorchester Abbey and local charities. Since 2005 the Festival has regularly attracted over 3,000 people each year, from serious followers of the arts to schools, families and children of all ages and has raised significant profile and over £200,000. For 2021 we were proud to support Daybreak who provide respite daycare centres for those with dementia. Read more about our festival here.

The Last Supper (until Easter 2024)

A sculpture by Peter Barnes

‘The Last Supper’ sculpture was inspired by the famous painting of the same name by Leonardo da Vinci. And just as the Bible and the original painting connected with people using the latest modes of communication, this sculpture is made with recycled computer keyboards to create the mosaic effect. To add further interest, the letters spell out quotes from the Bible for viewers to discover.

Sculptor Peter Barnes said, “My aim was to recreate Leonardo da Vinci’s painting as an abstract, three-dimensional form; I wanted to keep the detail to a minimum while retaining all the expression and interaction of the characters.”

With Bible quotes threaded throughout the sculpture, Peter says that it took over 50,000 keyboard keys to complete the work. “I wanted this sculpture to be finished with a mosaic but not in a conventional way. I realised that a computer keyboard is made up of squares which could be used as tiles. This led me to thinking of the possibilities; that letters, numbers and symbols could be utilised to create further interest and meaning.”

John Piper and The Church (21 April – 10 June 2012)

This special exhibition celebrated the contribution of one man, the artist John Piper (1903 – 1992), to the development of modern art in British churches throughout the twentieth century. It charted his life-long fascination with, and care for, church buildings; a relationship which began as a young boy when he produced his own sketches and guidebook to the churches in his home county of Surrey.

The exhibition included paintings, stained glass, drawings and ecclesiastical vestments, and was accompanied by talks, concerts and lectures.

Find out More about the John Piper Exhibition

The Second World War had a profound impact on Piper and, as an official War Artist, he produced a collection of paintings of bomb-damaged churches and those in decay. He also became involved in Kenneth Clark’s Recording Britain project, which was intended to boost morale by celebrating the country’s natural beauty and architectural heritage.

In the years after the war, Piper undertook a series of commissions to create modern stained glass windows, tapestries and vestments for churches. Some of these were nationally known, such as the Baptistry Window at Coventry Cathedral and the High Altar tapestry at Chichester, others were more personal in nature like the John Betjeman Memorial Window at Farnborough. His attraction, as an artist, to the architectural details and ‘pleasing decay’ of church buildings on the outside was matched by a vision to bring colour, energy and modernity into the heart of the church. This passion was to continue for the rest of his life.