Christ Church, Zanzibar

Christ Church is an Anglican cathedral in Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania. It belongs to the Anglican Church of Tanzania. It is a landmark historical church,[1] as well as one of the most prominent examples of early Christian architecture in East Africa.[2]

Christ Church
View to the cathedral
Religion
AffiliationAnglican
Location
Location Zanzibar, Tanzania
MunicipalityStone Town
Shown within Tanzania
Geographic coordinates6.1629°S 39.1925°E / -6.1629; 39.1925
Architecture
Groundbreaking1873
Completed1879

It was built in seven years, the foundation stone being laid on Christmas Day 1873 until the opening on Christmas 1879,[3] based on a vision of Edward Steere, third Anglican bishop of Zanzibar, who actively contributed to the design. As most buildings in Stone Town, it is made mostly of coral stone. It has a unique concrete roof shaped in an unusual barrel vault (that was Steere's idea) and the overall structure mixes Perpendicular Gothic and Islamic details.[4] The cathedral was consecrated in 1903 and named after Canterbury Cathedral.[4]

The church is located in Mkunazini Road, in the centre of the old town, and occupies a large area where the biggest slave market of Zanzibar used to be; the construction of the cathedral was in fact intended to celebrate the end of slavery.[4] The altar is said to be in the exact place where the main "whipping post" of the market used to be. In the square there is a well-known monument to the slaves (a few human figures in chains emerging from a pit) as well as a museum on slavery.[1]

Edward Steere died of a heart attack when the cathedral was almost completed, and was buried behind the altar. Inside the church there is a cross that was made from the wood of the tree that grows on the place where David Livingstone's heart was buried, in Chitambo.[5]

As many other historical coral-stone buildings in Stone Town, the Cathedral experiences decay and structural problems and needs restoring.[4]

The cathedral is linked with Ely Cathedral, in the diocese of Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK.

Notes
  1. "The Anglican Cathedral Church of Christ". Archived from the original on 2010-08-30. Retrieved 2010-11-22.
  2. Zanzibar Christians
  3. Heanley, R. M. (1888). A Memoir of Edward Steere. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 252.
  4. The Cathedral Archived June 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Saint Monica's Tours Archived May 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
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