St Paul's Cathedral - Calcutta - 1847
Cathedral Rd, Calcutta.
This Anglican cathedral replaced St John's Church (see my photo at flickr.com/photos/23268776@N03/2584732902/in/set-72157606... ) as the establishment place of worship in colonial Calcutta. Completed in the "Indo-Gothic" style, so described by Bishop Cotton as "spurious Gothic adapted to the exigencies of the Indian climate", it was designed by Major William Nairn Forbes of the Bengal Engineers.
The British Library online gallery has a photo of the Cathedral taken in 1851 by Frederick Fiebig at :-
www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/s/019pho0...
The photo shows that the original structure was topped by a spired tower; this was damaged by earthquakes in 1897 and 1934, after which it was finally removed. The renovated spire-less tower was modelled on that of Canterbury Cathedral in England, known as the Bell Harry Tower. Another old photo can be seen on the pages of fellow flickrite wobblyturkey at www.flickr.com/photos/wobblyturkey/257081248/in/set-72157... .
The interior of the Cathedral is a beautiful and evocative place to visit. It pays tribute to a very British Calcutta (with its statues of notable residents, plaques commemorating heroic deeds in long-forgotten wars, stained-glass and wonderful mosaics) and it is a world away from the chaos of modern Kolkata. It sits at the southern end of the Maidan, close to the Victoria Memorial and in a calm,green and shaded oasis, it is far removed from the chaos of the city.
St Paul's Cathedral - Calcutta - 1847
Cathedral Rd, Calcutta.
This Anglican cathedral replaced St John's Church (see my photo at flickr.com/photos/23268776@N03/2584732902/in/set-72157606... ) as the establishment place of worship in colonial Calcutta. Completed in the "Indo-Gothic" style, so described by Bishop Cotton as "spurious Gothic adapted to the exigencies of the Indian climate", it was designed by Major William Nairn Forbes of the Bengal Engineers.
The British Library online gallery has a photo of the Cathedral taken in 1851 by Frederick Fiebig at :-
www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/s/019pho0...
The photo shows that the original structure was topped by a spired tower; this was damaged by earthquakes in 1897 and 1934, after which it was finally removed. The renovated spire-less tower was modelled on that of Canterbury Cathedral in England, known as the Bell Harry Tower. Another old photo can be seen on the pages of fellow flickrite wobblyturkey at www.flickr.com/photos/wobblyturkey/257081248/in/set-72157... .
The interior of the Cathedral is a beautiful and evocative place to visit. It pays tribute to a very British Calcutta (with its statues of notable residents, plaques commemorating heroic deeds in long-forgotten wars, stained-glass and wonderful mosaics) and it is a world away from the chaos of modern Kolkata. It sits at the southern end of the Maidan, close to the Victoria Memorial and in a calm,green and shaded oasis, it is far removed from the chaos of the city.