CATHEDRALE SAINT JAMES

At the back of the old Port-Louis and 150 m from the Champ de Mars (another witness and emblematic place of Mauritius' history), this beautiful cathedral, recently renovated, proudly stands with its spire in the middle of a park, in a quieter section of the capital.

During the French period, in the ^18th century, the building was a powder magazine, as the imposing thickness of the walls, about three meters thick, still attests, intended to protect the stocks of gunpowder to supply the ships. Towards the end of the French period, it became a jail for British prisoners of war. In 1812, under English colonization, the building was converted into an Anglican church, the first in the city, without destroying the original defensive building which was considered too "solid". Transformations were gradually made: addition of a vestibule, a porch, two chapels at the ends of the transept, construction of an octagonal spire above the bell tower, addition of stained glass windows... The body of the building itself is composed of local materials such as volcanic rock, teak wood and, more atypically, blocks of coral. The church was consecrated a cathedral in 1850. On several occasions during its history, its vocation was partially diverted. It was used as an orphanage and school for the children of indentured laborers and former slaves, but also as a refuge and hospital during the terrible cyclone of 1892 which devastated a large part of the city.

At the exit below, go and see the old Saint Mary's chapel.