The Cathedral Church of the Resurrection, also known as Lahore Cathedral, is a

United Protestant A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denomination ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

located in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It was built on The Mall road in 1887, opposite the

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is a provincial court house based in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over the province of Punjab. The High Court's principal seat is ...

. The cathedral is the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

of the Diocese of Lahore, of the

Church of Pakistan The Church of Pakistan is a united Protestant church in Pakistan founded in 1970; it holds membership in the Anglican Communion, the World Communion of Reformed Churches,Database (9 February 2006)"Sialkot Diocese of the Church of Pakistan". R ...

. The building is in the

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style of architecture and was completed in 1887; and was consecrated on 25 January 1887. The cathedral was originally built out of pink sandstone by architect

John Oldrid Scott John Oldrid Scott (17 July 1841 – 30 May 1913) was a British architect. Biography He was the son of George Gilbert Scott and his wife Caroline (). His brother George Gilbert Scott Junior and nephew Sir Giles Gilbert Scott were also prominent ...

(son of

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...

). In 1898, two towers with tall steeples were added to the building, but the steeples were taken down after the earthquake of 1911. The Cathedral Church is commonly referred to by Lahoris as ''Kukar Girja'' (Girja being a Hindi/Urdu word meaning 'church' originating from Portuguese igreja) because of a

weather cock A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , me ...

that was mounted on the central lantern, one of the highest points.

History

According to historians, the first church of Lahore was constructed in 1595 near the Lahore Fort, during the Portuguese period when

Jesuit missionaries The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

were attending the court of the Mughal Empire. There were three Jesuit missions to Mughal court, as invited by

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

(1556-1605). The third mission was led by Father Jerome Xavier (1549-1617) who arrived in Lahore in 1595.

Emperor Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand ...

granted formal permission for the construction of a church near the Lahore fort in 1595. On the order of

Emperor Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal Emperor. Born as Prince Salim, he was the third and o ...

, it was closed in 1614. Ten years later, the church was re-opened but in 1632, on the orders of the Emperor

Shah Jehan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked th ...

it was demolished, even though various missions continued to live and preach in

. Two centuries later, the church was again established at Lahore by the British. Today the Cathedral Church of the Resurrection, Lahore is the centre of the Lahore Diocese, which was carved out of the Diocese of Calcutta, the largest Anglican diocese in South Asia, in 1877, which included the area up to Delhi, East Punjab, Kashmir, Afghanistan, with some responsibility for the southern states of the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

Features

A treasure of the cathedral is the ancient

Saint Thomas Cross Mar Thoma Sleeva (Saint Thomas Cross) or simply Mar Sleeva are ancient crosses associated with the community of Indian subcontinent, who trace their origins to the evangelism of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century AD. The Saint Thomas Chr ...

Saint Thomas Christians The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians of India, ''Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani'', ''Malankara Nasrani'', or ''Nasrani Mappila'', are an Ethnoreligious group, ethno-religious community of Indian Christians in the state of Ker ...

excavated in 1935 near the site of the ancient city of

Sirkap Sirkap (Urdu and ) is the name of an archaeological site on the bank opposite to the city of Taxila, Punjab, Pakistan. The city of Sirkap was built by the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius after he invaded modern-day Pakistan around 180 BC. Demetr ...

, although its antiquity is disputed . The structure is also well known for its stained glass windows, pipe organ, and a clock that dates back to 1862.

Bells

Originally the Church was to have eight change-ringing bells, however only six arrived from England. They were cast in 1903 by

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell (instrument), bell foundry. It is locat ...

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

. The largest bell weighs a ton and used to vibrate the foundations. Until the installation of a peal of twelve bells at

St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore Saint Andrew's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Singapore. It is located near City Hall, Singapore, City Hall, Downtown Core, within the Central Area, Singapore, Central Area in Singapore's central business district. It is the cathedral chur ...

in 2019, they were the only 'ringable' peal of church bells on the whole continent of Asia. There is another peal of bells at the Church of the Holy Name in Pune, India, however these are considered 'unringable' because the tower is cracked, and could not withstand the stresses associated with change ringing.

Organ

Another important possession of the cathedral is a huge organ, which is currently not in use. According to Roy Menzies, a regular visitor to the church, it was last used in 1982. He says: "I still remember the melodious tunes of this organ. Sir Griffin James was the last one to play it till 1982".

References

External links