My Weekly Powerup | #club100 | An amazing cathedral, with an amazing history - St.James Cathedral in Mauritius | #steemexclusive / 15 photos

Located in the centre of the Port Louis, you will find a church with an amazing history. The building has been in use for different purposes. During the years it has transformed from being in a military building, that has contained a gunpowder magazine to an Angelican church. The walls are three meters thick, which indicates how important it was to protect the building and the gunpowder that was stored here. In 2020 -2021 the church was renovated, which led to more knowledge of the building and it's history.

I learned about the church when attending a private party on the 12th of March, Mauritius Independece Day. That made me currious so I went there last week. After the renovation signboards telling the story of the chuch have been set up. You can follow these from nr. 1 at the front of the entrance, inside the church and to the nr. 13, which is the last one outside. The information is in both English and French.

It is belived that the building startet it's history during the French Colonial era (1715 -1810) to become a place to store gunpowder. They needed gunpowder in order to supply the ships used in wars. The building can be dated back to the 1780s. Toward the end of the French periode it was in use as a prison. But it was under British rule that the Anglian Church was established and the transformation into a church startet. The church has not only being in use as a gunpowder magazine, but also as an orphanage and school for the children of former slaves and the indentured labourers who came to work on the sugar fields. St. James Cathedral is the oldest Angelican church here in Mauritius.

When the restoration began, parts of the old wood cladding on the walls were removed. This revealed walls made of volcanic rock that had been cut by hand. Another very interesting discovery is the thre “meurtrieres” in the wall behind the alterpiece. The openings were more narrow on the outside and wider on the inside, so that the gunner would have more free space to move and to aim. The renovation project had chosen to keep those holes visible, because they are part of the history of the church.

It was not easy to take photos of the windows. It is here in the windows that you can see the wall is three meter thick. Impressive!

This building, called St. Mary's Chapel is located next to the church. The information board about the chapel tells that it was in use as a missionary centre for that part of population who came from India (mainly indentured laboures). On sundays the services were held in five different Indian language for up to 400 people. It is mentioned that a missionary arrived in 1812 His purpose was to evangalise the colored population.

The church is only a few minutes' walk from the cathedral, which is most often visited by tourists. Now that St. James Cathedral has been renovated, it is certainly worth a visit. A visit, that together with other sites, will give a deeper insight into the history of Mauritius.