It was built in seven years, the foundation stone being laid on Christmas Day 1873 until the opening on Christmas 1879,[3] based on a vision of Edward Steere, third Anglican bishop of Zanzibar, who actively contributed to the design. As most buildings in Stone Town, it is made mostly of coral stone. It has a unique concrete roof shaped in an unusual barrel vault (that was Steere's idea) and the overall structure mixes Perpendicular Gothic and Islamic details.[4] The cathedral was consecrated in 1903 and named after Canterbury Cathedral.[4]
The church is located in Mkunazini Road, in the centre of the old town, and occupies a large area where the biggest slave market of Zanzibar used to be; the construction of the cathedral was in fact intended to celebrate the end of slavery.[4] The altar is said to be in the exact place where the main "whipping post" of the market used to be. In the square there is a well-known monument to the slaves (a few human figures in chains emerging from a pit) as well as a museum on slavery.[1]
Edward Steere died of a heart attack when the cathedral was almost completed, and was buried behind the altar. Inside the church there is a cross that was made from the wood of the tree that grows on the place where David Livingstone's heart was buried, in Chitambo.[5]
As many other historical coral-stone buildings in Stone Town, the Cathedral experiences decay and structural problems and needs restoring.[4]
The cathedral is linked with Ely Cathedral, in the diocese of Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK.
