A YORK multimedia firm has helped recreate a lost cathedral.

MindWave Media created a virtual reconstruction of Coventry's medieval cathedral, which was closed during the Reformation in 1539 and then demolished within 40 years.

Visitors to the new Priory Visitor Centre, in Coventry, can now see how the cathedral would have looked amidst today's landscape if it had survived.

And they also get a chance to talk to four characters from Tudor times about their lives, and about what the cathedral, and its loss, meant to the inhabitants of the city.

The project is said to be one of the most detailed virtual reconstructions of an English cathedral ever undertaken.

"The opportunity for MindWave Media to work on such an exciting and high profile project has been superb," said MindWave creative director, Jeffrey Maytom.

"From start to finish, the processes of research, modelling, photography, sculpting and video work have been painstakingly combined to piece together the 3D jigsaw of broken stone into a wholly realistic interpretation of this fine medieval cathedral."

MindWave Media, which is based in Margaret Street, off Walmgate, York,is the recently created multimedia division of The Continuum Group, formed to combine the strengths of Past Forward and Heritage Projects, which were involved with the original Jorvik Viking Centre.

MindWave clients include the British Museum, Wiltshire County Council and English Heritage.

Priory Visitor Centre in Priory Row, Coventry, is open daily, admission free. Further information, call 024 7655 2242.

Updated: 09:48 Saturday, August 25, 2001