A giant memorial for answered prayers will be created in Birmingham

London – A new monument to answered prayers in the form of a monumental infinite loop will be built in the suburbs of northern England's Birmingham. Construction, designed by the British architectural firm Snug, is set to begin in the spring and, according to its initiators, the striking work will attract up to 300,000 visitors annually once completed. The Times reported on this.

The idea to build the monument came years ago from Richard Gamble, former chaplain of the Leicester City football club. "I thought of creating something like a wall, where each brick would represent an answered prayer... and this way convey to people outside the church that miracles do happen every day in this country," Gamble said.

In 2016, Gamble launched a crowdfunding campaign, which ultimately raised £47,000 (1.3 million CZK) to organize an international architectural competition. A total of 133 designs from dozens of countries were submitted, and the winner was Snug's project, which designed a wall in the shape of an infinite loop about 50 meters high, in which each of the million bricks used will represent an individual answered prayer.

All the bricks in the monument being built will have their unique code, and visitors will be able to use an app to look up the stories of individuals and their prayers that helped them. According to Gamble, a team of volunteers has been collecting records of answered prayers since 2018, and these include both dramatic stories of near-miraculous healings and sometimes humorously poignant tales, such as how God can arrange for emergency dental treatment or deliver face masks on time.

The construction of the monument has already received all necessary permits, and if the financing of the project, estimated at around £9 million (260 million CZK), can be secured in time, it is expected to be completed by 2022.