The Cathedral Church of St. John the Baptist is the primary cathedral of the

Anglican Diocese of Belize The Anglican Diocese of Belize was established in 1883. The current bishop is Philip Wright. Established in 1883 as a member of the Church of the Province of the West Indies, the Diocese of Belize now comprises 31 churches spread throughout t ...

. Based in

Belize City Belize City is the largest city in Belize and was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2010 census, Belize City has a population of 57,169 people in 16,162 households. It is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, wh ...

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...

, and built from 1812 to 1820 with bricks that had been used as ballast aboard ships, it was the first church to be built in the colony of

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

. Initially a parish church, St. John's Church became St. John's Cathedral in 1891, a few years after the Diocese of Belize had been erected. It has numerous alterations dating to more recent renovations. The exterior of the church is of

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

; the interior is fitted out in

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus '' Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: U ...

and

sapodilla ''Manilkara zapota'', commonly known as sapodilla (), sapote, naseberry, nispero or chicle, is a long-lived, evergreen tree native to southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. An example natural occurrence is in coastal Yucatán in the ...

. It is a historical landmark of

from the colonial influence of the country's past. Attached to the church is the oldest cemetery in the country,

Yarborough Cemetery Yarborough Cemetery is an historic cemetery located in Belize City, Belize. It was the first cemetery in British Honduras, used from 1787 until 1896, and was established for the burial of members of the colonial Anglican Church. It was named after ...

. It was built by the British using slave labour.

External links

St. John's Cathedral
Churches completed in 1812 19th-century Anglican church buildings Cathedrals in Belize Buildings and structures in Belize City {{Belize-struct-stub