The onion domes have become a landmark for drivers on the A4. As a fairly new building, there are no historic paintings of it, so we have invited Jan Pieńkowski, the celebrated children’s illustrator to consider illustrating it for us, thinking his magical fairytale style suits the exotic architecture. He is very busy on the latest Meg and Mog book, but he asks to visit the church to find out more.

The inside holds beautiful icons and a team of fresco artists are in the process of illuminating the entire interior.

We meet with Father Vitaly and he shows us round. Jan is of Polish origin, very religious, and although he lives in Barnes, his windows look out over the river and Chiswick, so we feel we can stretch the term “Chiswick artist.”