St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town

Christ in Triumph over Darkness and Evil, stained glass window by French artist Gabriel Loire in memory of Earl Mountbatten, at St George's Cathedral, Cape Town.

St George's Cathedral (in full, The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr) is the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town.

The cathedral was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and the foundation stone was laid in 1901. The cathedral replaced a church built in 1834 on the same site, and is still incomplete.

History

Bishop Robert Gray

In October 1827, the Bishop of Calcutta, on a visit to Cape Town which was, at the time, a distant outpost of his diocese, consecrated land at the corner of Government Avenue and Wale Street and it was on December 21, 1834 that St. George's Church opened for services.

In 1847, Robert Gray was ordained bishop of the newly-created Diocese of Cape Town and he installed his cathedra (throne) in the church, by which act it became a cathedral even though it was only a modest parish church. His dream was to build a more worthy building on the site but his wishes never materialized during his episcopate which lasted until his death in 1872.

The laying of the foundation stone in 1901. On the right are the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later to become King George V and Queen Mary).

On May 17, 1874, William West Jones was ordained second Bishop and Metropolitan of Cape Town (almost 25 years later he was elevated to Archbishop) and by 1887 the Diocesan Synod had appointed a committee to collect money for a new cathedral but it was not until August 22, 1901 that the Duke of Cornwall and York (later to become King George V) laid the foundation stone bearing the letters AMDG (Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam – To the Greater Glory of God). Paradoxically, this is the only visible instance of these letters which are chiselled on the inward-facing surface of each and every stone in the cathedral, a custom dating from ancient times. The South-African War was still in progress at the time and as a result it was not until 1904 that work was resumed and the foundations were laid.

In 1908 Archbishop West Jones returned to England. By the time of his departure, the eastern end of the cathedral was well under way but he died two months later. It was decided that the new chapel on the north side should be built in his memory and it was completed and dedicated on October 28, 1909 in honour of St John the Baptist, the patron saint of St John's College, Oxford, of which William West Jones had been a fellow.

Work continued slowly but it was not until 1930 that the memorial stone for the North Transept was laid by the Earl of Athlone, then Governor-General of the Union of South Africa. The transept was completed in 1936 which finally made Sir Herbert Baker's design a reality.

References

• Roger Kenyon (editor), The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr, (ca. 1980) Printpak Books, Cape Town

External links

• St George's Cathedral