ST PAUL'S ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL

St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, is the metropolitical and cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. It is the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne and Metropolitan of the Province of Victoria. The cathedral, which was built in stages, is a major Melbourne landmark.

St Paul's Cathedral is built on the site where the first public Christian service in Melbourne was conducted in 1835. The area of the current site became a corn market until 1848, when it was made available for the construction of St Paul's Parish Church, a bluestone church. St Paul's Parish Church was consecrated in 1852 and was in use until 1885 when it was demolished to make way for the current cathedral. A distinguished English architect, William Butterfield, designed the cathedral, in the architectural style of Gothic transitional.

The foundation stone was laid in 1880 and, on 22 January 1891, the cathedral was consecrated. St Paul's replaced St James Old Cathedral which then stood on the corner of William Street and Collins Street - later moved to a site near the Flagstaff Gardens. The erection of the spires began in 1926, to the design of John Barr of Sydney instead of Butterfield's original design.

The 1960s saw extensive work completed to the exterior of the cathedral and the T.C. Lewis Organ was restored in 1989 by a major National Trust appeal.Major restoration works were completed in 2009 with significant repairs to the spires, the building of the Moorhouse Tower Lantern and the new processional doors.

This post is part of the Spiritual Sundays meme,

and also part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme.