Visitors to Winchester Cathedral could soon be greeted by a distinctive 15-foot light sculpture in the shape of Cleopatra's Needle.

Artist, Peter Freeman, has designed the £40,000 illumination as part of a lottery-funded city council arts project.

Called Luminous Motion - Axis Mundi, the stainless steel structure will be covered with fibre-optic light points that change colour and sparkle, creating different-coloured surfaces.

Designed to be interactive, the colours can be changed by people sending the sculpture text messages.

Mr Freeman who has installations at Blackpool promenade, Poole Art Centre and other cities across the country is renoun for his revolutionary light art.

Council arts development officer, Marilyn Michalowicz, described the Winchester sculpture as "basically a tower or a pillar - rather like Cleopatra's Needle with three surfaces."

She said: "It will be quite elegant and beautiful with subtle colours. People can use mobile phones to call up the sculpture and sent it a text message instructing it to change colour. I think that is going to be the real thrill of it."

The city council has applied - to itself - for permission to install the sculpture at the Market Square entrance to the Cathedral Close, next to the City Museum, for three months, possibly in time for Christmas.

The plan is then to move it to a permanent home on the refurbished forecourt of Winchester Station, where it will become a new landmark.

Inspired by the medieval Christian idea of Axis Mundi - the axis between heaven and earth - the sculpture is also about modern communication routes, real and virtual.

Mrs Michalowicz said: "It is almost like a signpost, a marker for journeys people make. The cathedral historically has been a destination for pilgrims and there is still a footpath for pedestrians.

"The artist is particularly interested in the significance of electronic messaging being about satellite journeys and the information superhighway."

Canon Keith Walker said the dean and chapter thought the "spire-shaped" sculpture was appropriate for the cathedral. "It is both ancient and modern, secular and sacred."

But he warned permission also had to be obtained from English Heritage before it could be installed in the Outer Close.

Winchester architect, Huw Thomas, said: "I think it is very exciting indeed and quite a surprise that the council is brave enough to embrace something so 21st century, innovative and experimental. He is obviously an artist with something special to say."

Others however may not be so impressed. A spokesman for Sotheby's, the London-based auction house, said: "You could buy an Elizabeth Frink or a Henry Moore sculpture for £40,000."

The light sculpture is the final part of a three-year art project organised by the council. Previous installations were a "colour swatch" of lights in High Street shop windows and a webcam in the city centre.

* Light art by Peter Freeman can be seen on the website www.peterfreeman.co.uk