St George’s Cathedral Of Guyana
By Dmitri Allicock
The St George’s Cathedral – Georgetown Guyana
Arguably the tallest wooden structure in the world and serves as a magnificent example of architectural heritage and one of the best preserved in Guyana
Guyana’s most popular religion is Christianity and one of its most enduring symbols is the 1894 St. George’s Anglican Cathedral.
The history of the Anglican Church in Guyana can be traced as far back as 1781, when the Reverend William Baggs, Chaplain to Sir George Rodney, came to British Guiana.
[Read more – The St. George’s Cathedral of Guyana ]
Comments
Thank you, Dmitri, for a wonderful article on the history of the St. George’s Cathedral.
The photo chosen really places the Cathedral right smack bang in the center of that area. It gives a beautiful image of Georgetown at its finest.
St. George’s Cathedral was a family church. Every Sunday morning you would see all the families arriving dressed in their “Sunday Best.” The ladies with their hats, veils and gloves; the males in their suits (if they were fortunate enough to own one), or good pants, pressede white shirts and ties.
Most of the families arrived by bicycles or by foot.
My own family consisted of Mom, Papa, and six siblings. So we took up an entire pew. As was thee rule at the time the four boys all had to wear their Queen’s College uniforms, including and especially, school ties to church. Thank goodness they did not insist on school caps and/or “bug houses”!!!
If you were seen at church without this apparel, and everyone knew who you were, this meant a visit to the principal on Monday morning!
The inside of the St. George’s was simply “cathedral” and stupendous! The greenheart wood was highly polished and varnished. As a child you simply felt “lost” in the huge interior.
And the pipe organ was magnificent.
I believe the entire family (at least the children) were all baptised and confirmed at St. George’s. The current Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds and I were confirmed at the same time in St. George’s.
The best time was after the church service was over and most of the families just gathered around, inside and outside the building, just “ole talking”
Of course the ladies tried their best to outshine every other lady with their “Sunday Best” outfit. Needless to say the children hated this time and just wanted to get home and take off the church clothes. And couldn’t bear to wait for Sunday lunch.
Thanks for bringing back all these memories, Dmitri.
Claude Ho
Bless you Claude!
this is very nice picture and well preserved of the tallest and oldest infrastructure in guyana and also belonging to the church God bless guyana for it history
Thank you Patricia
Cultural heritage we may lose if we don’t preserve it.
So true Rosaliene. Both the visible and the physical bond of our Guyanese Cultural Heritage are most vital of preservation. It defines us as a people, connects us to our past and sets the foundation for the future.
Honoring our heritage must be as natural as breathing for it is indeed the foundation on which you stand. Many great individuals of early British Guiana have been lost to the fog of history but the legacy of Anglican Bishop Dr. William Piercy lives on in Guyana. Bishop William Piercy Austin’s ideas and diligent contributions gave rise to the academic pursuits in Guyana for which he is recognized as one of the most outstanding individual in the history of the Colony of British Guiana.
https://guyaneseonline.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/lord-bishop-william-piercy-austin-of-british-guiana-by-dmitri-allicock/
We have had from those returning from the Jubilee celebration that it is in a bad state needing lots of repair. What has happened to our heritage?
Repair is going on right now!