City's unbuilt cathedral unveiled

A platform was built for restorers to access the model

A spectacular cathedral which was to take 200 years to build has finally been finished - in miniature.

A detailed model of Sir Edwin Lutyens's design for Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral has been restored by experts at the city's Walker Art Gallery.

Building work did start with the crypt, which became the current cathedral after the design was never finished.

The architectural model, believed to be one of the biggest and most elaborate made, is now going on display.

Restorers used a platform to complete the fine detail.

The design was abandoned after World War II when it became too expensive to complete. Its dome would have been twice the size of St Paul's Cathedral in London.

The model is among the most elaborate ever built

The model was neglected for many years, before it came into the National Museums Liverpool collection.

It has taken 13 years and £500,000 to restore.

Sir Edwin Lutyens started work as an architect when he was 20 and went on to design more than three dozen major English country houses and altered and added to many more.

He remodelled Lindisfarne Castle and built Castle Drogo. He also designed the Cenotaph in Whitehall, Thiepval Arch on the Somme and many other memorials and cemeteries for World War I.

Liverpool's cathedral was considered the last great work of his life.

The Cathedral That Never Was - Lutyens' design for Liverpool runs from 27 January to 22 April at the Walker Art Gallery.