St. Paul's Church is a Protestant church, built in 1864 on Manora, Karachi in

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

, Pakistan.Artfiend: Reclaiming Manora
Dawn (newspaper), Published 14 March 2010, Retrieved 20 May 2022 It is situated beside the

Manora Point Lighthouse The Manora Point Lighthouse is an active lighthouse located in Manora, Karachi, on the Arabian Sea in Pakistan, where it is fourth tallest lighthouse in the country at a height of . The lighthouse was first established on the point in 1851, being ...

and is managed by the Karachi Port Trust. St. Paul's was erected as a memorial to Sir

Charles James Napier General Sir Charles James Napier, (; 10 August 178229 August 1853) was an officer and veteran of the British Army's Peninsular and 1812 campaigns, and later a Major General of the Bombay Army, during which period he led the military conquest of ...

, the British general who led forces to conquer the Sindh in 1843. The building was recently restored in 2008.

History

The British forces under General Charles James Napier captured Manora in 1839, as part of their Sindh campaign making it their military base of operations. St. Paul's, among other buildings, was erected as a memorial to the British General. When the church was built it was constructed from limestone from the Hands' Hill Quarries (located 3 miles from Karachi and 5 from

Kiamari Keamari ( sd, ڪياماڙي, ur, کیماڑی ) is a neighbourhood in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Keamari was originally an independent settlement that was built on a sandy ridge on the eastern side of Karachi Harbour. History Keamari was a lo ...

) and the lower-grade but cheaper Manora

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

. It features an Early English architectural style, and consists of a nave, without aisles, a vestry and a small assembly hall. The nave is 43 feet in length and 20 feet wide, with a height up to the tie beam of 20 feet. Despite the church's simple and traditional exterior, the interior features a cathedral style ceiling of wooden trusses. Further references to a gothic style of architecture include the church's four

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

s, as well as the three-light

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows at its eastern end. The building was completed within the year and consecrated in the following one (1865). Construction costs totalled 15,000

rupee Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

s, of which 4,000 rupees were contributed by the Government. In the early years of St. Paul's church, the congregation was mostly made up of area residents as well as by the crews of the harbour vessels. It was designed to seat 50 persons with services conducted by one of the Government

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

s of the Karachi station every Sunday. Throughout the church's long history, alterations have been made to the church, including the original exterior of the church being completely cemented over.

Restoration

Restoration work in two phases, due to financial restraints, was carried out on the church to preserve it as a heritage site and restore the "neglected" church to its original form. The restoration process took longer than expected, remaining pending for a year due to lack of finances before resuming and completing the final stage of work in 2008. The money for the restoration was raised privately, as no support from the government or the Karachi Port Trust was able to be given.

References

{{Authority control Churches in Pakistan Churches in Karachi Churches completed in 1864 1864 establishments in British India