The West Front of Westminster Abbey in London has had niches standing empty since it was built in the late Middle Ages. On the completion of the restoration of the West Front in 1992, it was decided that these niches should be filled with appropriate statutes.

In addition to six statutes of traditional saints and four of allegorical figures representing the values for which martyrs have died are 10 remaining niches. These will be filled with statues of those who by their deaths have testified to the cost of Christian faith and discipleship in this century. Between them they will cover the period from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to the persecution of the Church in Latin America. They will be drawn from every continent of the world and from many denominations and will include Martin Luther King, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Archbishop Janani Luwum of Uganda.

The twentieth century has seen more martyrdoms for the Christian faith than any other period of history. It is estimated that there were more Christian martyrs under Stalin than in the the great persecutions under the Roman Empire in the first three centuries of the Church. The statues for Westminster Abbey are being made by a team of architectural sculptors, who have already carved a larger number of pieces of statuary in the Abbey. They will be unveiled on 9 July 1998, in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Church leaders from many parts of the world.