English: This is the original design by John Grantham for the altar used in the parish church of St. Maria Angelica, Hannover, Germany. It was first designed in 2005 and built by him together with the parish priest, Oliver Kaiser, and used in the parish hall’s chapel until the church was completed. A new version using the same design was made in 2011, and then consecrated along with the by now complete church by Bishop Matthias Ring.

The altar design makes heavy use of numeric symbolism:

- The five legs represent the Stigmata of Christ and are arranged in the shape of a Greek cross.

- The outer dimensions form a cube, which is the simplest representation of three dimensions, three referring to the Holy Trinity and to the unity of God.

- Viewed from any side, the legs and top form a tau cross or T-cross.

- The mensa (top) of the altar is composed of four groups of three blocks of wood each: Three stands for the Trinity and thus God and Heaven, four for the Earth (the four winds, four cardinal directions, four corners of the world, etc.). Three times four — thus connecting Heaven and Earth, God and man — makes twelve, the number of the Apostles, Twelve Tribes of Israel, and twelve gates of the New Jerusalem.

- In the middle of the mensa, surrounding the 12 blocks, is a cross made of three blocks of wood, which in turn is surrounded by a box made of four blocks of wood, for a total of seven — the number of the Messiah.

Material throughout is solid pine 10x10 planks, using wooden pegs to hold it all together.

Anyone is free to make use of this design, so long as John Grantham is given credit for the original design and is also informed via e-mail to john@grantham.de about the use of the design.