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.
Zanzibar is an insular semi-autonomous region which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 km (16–31 mi) off the coast of the African mainland, and consists of many small islands and two large ones: Unguja and Pemba Island. The capital is Zanzibar City, located on the island of Unguja. Its historic centre, Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.
Stonetown of Zanzibar, also known as Mji Mkongwe, is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. The newer portion of the city is known as Ng'ambo, Swahili for 'the other side'. Stone Town is located on the western coast of Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago. Former capital of the Zanzibar Sultanate, and flourishing centre of the spice trade as well as the Indian Ocean slave trade in the 19th century, it retained its importance as the main city of Zanzibar during the period of the British protectorate. When Tanganyika and Zanzibar joined each other to form the United Republic of Tanzania, Zanzibar kept a semi-autonomous status, with Stone Town as its local government seat.
Edward Colston was an English merchant, slave trader, philanthropist, and Tory Member of Parliament.
The Anglican Church of Tanzania is a province of the Anglican Communion based in Dodoma. It consists of 28 dioceses headed by their respective bishops. It seceded from the Province of East Africa in 1970, which it shared with Kenya. The current primate and archbishop is Maimbo Mndolwa, enthroned on 20 May 2018.
Zanzibar City or Mjini District, often simply referred to as Zanzibar is one of two administrative districts of Mjini Magharibi Region in Tanzania. The district covers an area of 15.4 km2 (5.9 sq mi). The district is comparable in size to the land area of Nauru. The district has a water border to the west by the Indian Ocean. The district is bordered to the east by Magharibi District. The district seat is in Stonetown. The city is the largest on the island of Zanzibar. It is located on the west coast of Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago, north of the much larger city of Dar es Salaam across the Zanzibar Channel. The city also serves as the capital of the Zanzibar Urban/West Region. In 2022 its population was 219,007.
People have lived in Zanzibar for 20,000 years. The earliest written accounts of Zanzibar began when the islands became a base for traders voyaging between the African Great Lakes, the Somali Peninsula, the Arabian peninsula, Iran, and the Indian subcontinent. Unguja offered a protected and defensible harbour, so although the archipelago had few products of value, Omanis and Yemenis settled in what became Zanzibar City as a convenient point from which to trade with towns on the Swahili Coast. They established garrisons on the islands and built the first mosques in the African Great Lakes Region.
Christianity is the largest religion in Tanzania, with a substantial Muslim minority. Smaller populations of Animists, practitioners of other faiths, and religiously unaffiliated people are also present.
St George's Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, and the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town. St. George's Cathedral is both the metropolitical church of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa and a congregation in the Diocese of Cape Town.
Yuguang Street Church is a Protestant church in Dalian, China. It is the former Dalian Anglican Church and its church building is now a Historical Protected Building of Dalian City.
Mangapwani is a town on the Tanzanian island of Unguja, the main island of Zanzibar. It is located on the northwest coast, 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of the Zanzibari capital of Stone Town.
The Universities' Mission to Central Africa was a missionary society established by members of the Anglican Church within the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and Dublin. It was firmly in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church, and the first to devolve authority to a bishop in the field rather than to a home committee. Founded in response to a plea by David Livingstone, the society established the mission stations that grew to be the bishoprics of Zanzibar and Nyasaland, and pioneered the training of black African priests.
Chauncy Maples was a British clergyman and Anglican missionary who became Bishop of Likoma, with a diocese in East Africa.
Edward Steere was an English Anglican colonial bishop in the 19th century.
The Bishop of Zanzibar is the Diocesan of an island diocese in the Anglican Church of Tanzania. Its current bishop is Michael Hafidh. The bishop's seat is Christ Church, Zanzibar, the Anglican cathedral in Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania.
The Darajani Market is the main bazaar in Stone Town, Zanzibar. It is also known as Estella Market and informally as Marikiti Kuu. The market is located in Darajani Road, in the surroundings of the Anglican Cathedral of Christ.
Holy Ghost Mission is located in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. The pioneer mission was established by the Holy Ghost Fathers. The original Holy Ghost Church, built in 1872, is reportedly the oldest church on the mainland of East Africa, while the new church was built 1910–1914. In 1874, David Livingstone was interred for a night at the Holy Ghost Mission; the Livingstone Tower, a part of the original church, is named in his honor.
The following is a timeline of the history of Zanzibar City, Unguja island, Zanzibar, Tanzania. The city is composed of Ng'ambo and Stone Town. Until recently it was known as Zanzibar Town.
Francis Roger Hodgson was a British Anglican missionary and Bible translator in Zanzibar, and later a parish priest in Devon, England.
Cecil Majaliwa was a former slave from Zanzibar who became the first African to be ordained as a priest in what is now Tanzania. After being freed, he was educated in Zanzibar and England by the Universities' Mission to Central Africa. He was highly successful during eleven years as an Anglican missionary in the south of the country. However, the European leaders of the mission downplayed his achievements and failed to promote him.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Zanzibar, Tanzania 
