Cathedral of St John the Divine
Anglican cathedral of 1845-1848 whose twin towers dominate St John's, with a timber inner shell.
The Cathedral of St John the Divine is the third church on its hill above St John's; the earlier buildings of 1681 and 1720 were wrecked by earthquakes. The foundation stone of the present cathedral was laid on 9 October 1845 by Governor Sir Charles FitzRoy and the building was finished in 1848 to designs by the English architect Thomas Fuller. Its twin Baroque towers, each capped by a cupola, remain the most conspicuous structures in the town.
The freestone exterior encloses a complete inner shell of pitch pine, an unusual device intended to brace the building against earthquake and hurricane. The iron gates at the southern entrance date from 1789 and are flanked by lead figures of St John the Baptist and St John the Divine, said to have been taken from a French ship in the eighteenth century. The churchyard holds monuments to planters, soldiers and clergy. The cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of the North East Caribbean and Aruba.
Highlights
- Twin Baroque towers of 1845-1848 by the architect Thomas Fuller
- Inner shell of pitch pine bracing the stone walls against earthquakes
- South gates of 1789 with figures of the two St Johns from a French ship
- Seat of the Anglican Diocese of the North East Caribbean and Aruba
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