St. Luke's Church is located within the compound of the Chest Diseases Hospital at the southwest slope of Shankaracharya Hill in the Dalgate area of

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

, India. It is the first Christian church in Kashmir. It is part of the

Church of North India The Church of North India (CNI) is the dominant united and uniting churches, united Protestant church in northern India. It was established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together most of the Protestant churches working in northern India. It i ...

and is one of the remotest churches in the country. The Gothic-style church was built in 1896 by British engineers. The foundation stone for the church was laid on 12 September 1896 by British brothers and

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

hospital doctors, Dr Arthur Neve and Dr Ernest Neve. It was transferred to the

Government of Jammu and Kashmir The Government of Jammu and Kashmir is the principal administrative authority responsible for the governance of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Established on 5 March 1948 as the Government of Princely state of Jammu and Ka ...

in the 1960s. The church remained in use until 1986 when it was abandoned due to rising militancy in the region. In 2016, the local Christian community and priests approached the state administration to seek its renovation. However, the church had severe structural issues and required major restoration work before it could be reopened.

Restoration

The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

had selected Srinagar as one of the cities to implement its

Smart Cities Mission Smart Cities Mission was an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the Government of India with the mission to develop smart cities across the country, making them citizen-friendly and sustainable. The Union Ministry of Urban Development ...

. As part of the mission, the Centre provided for the restoration of St. Luke's Church. Renovation work began in April 2020 but faced delays due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. It was completed just ahead of Christmas 2021. Due to the location of the building and the shortage of skilled masons, the restoration work was completed in stages, and the church was opened to the public after 30 years. The main restoration process involved the ceiling of the stone and brick masonry structure which was redone with the traditional Khatamband woodwork and flooring with "Devar" stones.

Rededicated

Lieutenant Governor

Manoj Sinha Manoj Sinha (born 1 July 1959) is an Indian politician serving as the 2nd and the current lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir. He served as the minister of state for Communications (independent charge) and minister of state for Railways i ...

rededicated the church after extensive restoration work on 23 December 2021, and the first prayer service was held at St. Luke's Church since 1986.

References

{{reflist Church of North India cathedrals Churches in Jammu and Kashmir Churches in Srinagar 19th-century Anglican church buildings in India 1896 establishments in India Churches completed in 2021