The Church of Saint Andrew is an Anglican church in

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. Consecrated in 1905, the church is within the Archdeaconry of Gibraltar. The building is constructed in a

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...

architectural style.

History

In 1880, Hassan I of Morocco donated land to the British community in order to build a small Anglican church in Tangier. The resulting church was soon found to have insufficient capacity for the increasing number of

worshipper Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition ...

s, and a new building was constructed in 1894 which became the Church of Saint Andrew. It was consecrated in 1905. The interior is designed as a fusion of numerous styles, notably

. The belltower, shaped like a

minaret A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...

, overlooks the adjacent cemetery.

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

's painting of 1913, ''Landscape Viewed from a Window'', depicts the church. The church has a number of memorial plaques, including one to commemorate Emily Keene, (1849-1944), Sherifa of

Wazzan Ouazzane (also Ouezzane) (Berber: ⵡⴰⵣⵣⴰⵏ, ar, وزان) is a town in northern Morocco, with a population of 59,606 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census. The city is well known in Morocco and throughout the Islamic world as a spiritu ...

, who introduced the cholera vaccine to

. She was a British humanitarian who married the Shareef of

Ouazzane Ouazzane (also Ouezzane) ( Berber: ⵡⴰⵣⵣⴰⵏ, ar, وزان) is a town in northern Morocco, with a population of 59,606 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census. The city is well known in Morocco and throughout the Islamic world as a spirit ...

, a local religious leader. She died in Tangier and there is a plaque in the western side of the church to commemorate her - her actual grave is in the Wazzan family burial ground in the Marshan district of Tangier overlooking the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...

. Another memorial commemorates Thomas Kirby-Green, one of the members of the Great Escape who was executed on recapture. The church is in the Archdeaconry of Gibraltar.

Notable burials

The churchyard holds the graves of a number of notable people: * Sir Harry MacLean, (1848–1920), soldier and commander of the Moroccan Army; * Paul Lund, (1915–1966), British gangster and friend of William Burroughs; * Walter Burton Harris, (1866–1933), a British diplomat, journalist and author; * Claire de Menasce and her second husband Commander Roy Howell RN. Claude-Marie Vincendon, her daughter by her first marriage, was the third wife of Lawrence Durrell; *

Christopher Gibbs Christopher Henry Gibbs (29 July 1938 – 28 July 2018) was a British antiques dealer and collector who was also an influential figure in men's fashion and interior design in 1960s London. He has been credited with inventing Swinging London, an ...

, (1938-2018), antique dealer and collector, credited with inventing

Swinging London The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...

References

External links

Flickr images
{{Diocese in Europe Churches completed in 1894 19th-century Anglican church buildings Churches in Tangier Churches in Morocco Anglican church buildings in Africa Diocese in Europe Tourist attractions in Tangier