Science Festival: Gaia

Science Festival: Gaia runs at St Albans Cathedral from Tuesday 19 to Thursday 21 January 2027, with sessions starting at 10:00am and finishing at 2:30pm. It's a full day of hands-on science workshops for KS2 pupils, all built around the Gaia installation that's hanging in the Cathedral nave.

The programme is split into four distinct sessions. The Web of Life looks at biodiversity and food chains, while Forces in Action tackles the forces curriculum with experiments that might involve dropping teddies from the Cathedral tower. Our Beautiful Earth focuses on the planet itself, and there's an Earth & Space Planetarium Experience to round it off. The workshops are designed to support the National Curriculum, with an emphasis on curiosity, critical thinking and collaborative learning.

Gaia is the installation that gives the festival its name: Luke Jerram's immersive Earth, which hangs in the nave and uses NASA imagery, sound and light to create a giant floating planet. It's a high-profile piece of work that's hosted candlelit musical celebrations by artists like Westlife and Queen, and the Cathedral's Canon Scientist, Professor Russell Cowburn, has held a talk beneath it titled Is God Playing Dice with the Universe?, on how randomness drives life, science and innovation.

The venue itself is part of the experience. St Albans Cathedral is the shrine to Britain's first saint and is described as the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in the country. Its tower, which you reach by climbing 211 steps, is said to be the oldest in the country too. The festival runs Tuesday 19 to Thursday 21 January 2027, from 10:00am to 2:30pm each day, at St Albans Cathedral, Sumpter Yard, St Albans, AL1 1BY.