St.
Patrick’s Cathedral is the seat
of the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Karachi, and is located near the Empress
Market in the Saddar locality in central Karachi. The church was completed in 1881, and can accommodate
1,500 worship. At the front of the cathedral is the Monument
to Christ the King, built between 1926 and 1931 to
commemorate the Jesuit mission in Sindh.
The first church in Sindh, called St. Patrick’s
Church, was built on the grounds of the cathedral in 1845 as a Carmelite mission at a cost of 6,000 rupees under the
leadership of Karachi's first Carmelite priest, Father Casaboch. As the Catholic population of the city grew, the city's
Catholics raised money for construction of a new church. Groundbreaking was
done in 1878, and the church was consecrated on 24 April 1881. Despite the construction of the new building, the little
church continued to function until it was destroyed by a storm in 1885.
The present day
cathedral is built in Gothic Revival architecture; it measures 52 metres
by 22 metres, and has the capacity to accommodate at least 1,500 worshippers at
the same time. It was designed and realized by three members of the Society
of Jesus: The design of the cathedral was conceived by the architect Father
Karl Wagner, SJ and the construction was supervised by the lay Brothers George
Kluver, SJ and Herman Lau, SJ.
The Gazetteer of the Province
of Sindh provides a description of the cathedral:
"Its exterior is not ornamental, though striking from a
distance, but money and art have been lavished on the interior.
The chancel, itself spacious, acquires a special impressiveness but its
additional height, while the noble contours of the aspiring altar are
seen to the best advantage. The whole interior is painted in oil and the
windows are all of stained glass, donated by the members of the
congregation."
