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| St. Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore |
St Andrew's Cathedral is an
Anglican Cathedral in
Singapore,
it is the largest cathedral of the country. It is positioned near City
Hall MRT Interchange in the Downtown Core, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district. In 1823, the site presently occupied by the Cathedral was specifically set aside for a church by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of
Singapore. The first Anglican priest appointed to Singapore was the
Reverend Robert Burn
who got there in 1826. In 1834 that the foundation stone of the first
Anglican Church was laid at the site of the present building. This
church was completed in 1837 but enjoyed a short and unfortunate
history. Twice struck by lightning it was denounced as unsafe and
finally closed in 1852. The construction of the church building was by
Scottish merchants. Therefore, the Church was named after
St Andrew, the
Patron Saint of Scotland, an Apostle and brother of
St Peter. The logo of
St Andrew's Cathedral is the
St Andrew's Cross.
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| Interior - St. Andrew's Cathedral in Singapore |
The architect of
St Andrew's Cathedral was
Colonel Ronald MacPherson of the Madras Army. A memorial cross to
MacPherson still stands in the Cathedral grounds. The architecture is
early English Gothic.
One of the interesting features of the Cathedral is the coating of the
interior walls and pillars with a composition made from shell lime. This
lime had been mixed with the whites of eggs and coarse sugar or jiggery
and the paste was mix with water in which husks of coconuts had been
soaked into it. The walls and pillars after a period of drying were
rubbed with rock crystals or rounded stones until they took on a
beautiful polish. They were dusted with fine soapstone powder leaving a
remarkably smooth and glossy surface. The walls and pillars were so hard
that it was almost impossible to drive a nail into them. On 4 March
1856
Bishop Daniel Wilson laid the foundation stone and consecrated it in January 1862. The Cathedral was opened for services on 1 October 1861.
During the Japanese invasion of Singapore
in 1942, the nave of Cathedral was switched into a casualty station to
take care of the wounded because all the hospitals were overcrowded with
the casualties due to the unvarying bombing and artillery fire by the
Japanese invaders.
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| St. Andrew's Cathedral in Singapore |
The Cathedral remained open for worship during the Japanese invasion.
General Percival was present at a
communion service on 15 February 1942 before he surrendered to the Japanese on that day.
Bishop Wilson
and other European clergy worked in the Cathedral during the first year
of the Japanese Occupation. However, in March 1943 Bishop Wilson was
arrested and made a prisoner-of-war. Normal worship services were
resumed after the
Japanese Surrender in 1945.
Chronology
9 Nov 1834 : First church's foundation stone laid
18 Jun 1837 : First service conducted
10 Sep 1838 : Building consecrated
1843 : Revere Bell donated
25 Aug 1845 :
Building struck by lightning
1849 : Lightning struck again
1852 : Building declared unsafe and closed
4 Mar 1856 : Present building's foundation stone laid
1 Oct 1861 : First church service in current building held
25 Jan 1862 : Church consecrated
1870 :
St Andrew's Church became Cathedral of the
Diocese of Labuan and Sarawak, and renamed St Andrew's Cathedral
6 Feb 1889 : Gift of bells installed
20 Jun 1891 : Cathedral struck by lightning
1952 : North transept opened
28 Jun 1973 : Cathedral became a preserved national monument of Singapore
6 Jul 1973 : Cathedral gazetted as a national monument
1983 : South transept added
23 Nov 2003 : Ground-breaking ceremony conducted for the Quiet Places Project
May 2004 : Construction of the extension began
Nov 2005 : Extension completed.
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