Everyone has a Cathedral Square story. What’s yours?

Cathedral Square Unearthed is an exhibition created by the Christchurch Archaeology Project that brings Cathedral Square’s early history to life. This free exhibition will be held in Christ Church Cathedral from 16 to 22 February 2026 and The Crossing from 24 February to 22 March 2026, marking the 15th anniversary of the 22 February earthquake. Tickets to Christ Church Cathedral are now sold out, but you can go on the waitlist for tickets. Tickets are not required at The Crossing, and you can visit from 9am-6pm weekdays, and 10am -5pm on weekends.

We’d love to see your photos and hear your stories.

You can share them by:

• Commenting on one of our posts on Facebook or Instagram

• Tagging us using #CathedralSquareUnearthed or @christchurcharchaeologyproject

• Emailing your memories directly to jane.leighs@christchurcharchaeology.org.nz - or flick us a DM

While the exhibition focuses on the 19th century, we’re gathering personal memories of Cathedral Square from any era, adding living voices and lived experiences to the exhibition conversation.

The competition for a favourite story, which closed on 5 January 2026, has been drawn and the winner notified. They won two tickets to our opening event on the afternoon of 15 February 2026, their story will feature on an exhibition display panel, and they won a beautiful handcrafted bowl made from wood recovered from Christ Church Cathedral, generously donated by the Diocese of Christ Church Cathedral.

We plan to create a scrapbook of shared memories to display as part of the exhibition, with the possibility of future publication. Before any stories are included, we’ll be in touch to confirm that contributors are happy for their memories to be shared.