In Worcester, Presence features The seven last words from the cross, a collection of paintings by Martin Rose depicting Jesus' last words before he died.

There will also be a performance of Haydn's Seven Last Words by the world renowned Lindsay Quartet, as part of a special service of meditation for Palm Sunday.

After Easter, Presence continues with a further exhibition of new work by four contemporary artists exploring both the resurrection and ascension of Christ.

In addition to Iain McKillop's moving series from the empty tomb to Pentecost, the exhibition includes Ascension Day by Mark Cazalet, who also designed the millennium window for the Cathedral.

The Dean of Worcester Cathedral, the Very Reverend Peter Marshall, said; "It is both a searing grace and also a healing blessing for us to be allowed to exhibit these works.

"Artists, through their works, have the language to speak to all people of a truth where others fail.

"We hope all that come to view or listen will encounter a love, naked and inexplicable, yet so real in its presence that the future, as it unfolds, will be lived in hope and trust."

Art and faith

In his introduction to the guidebook that accompanies the series of exhibitions, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, outlines his personal views of the historical relationship between art and the Christian faith.

"Some of the history of Christian art is about the tension between recognising that the change associated with Jesus is incapable of representation and recognising that for the change to be communicable it must in some way be represented."