Afghan Church - Mumbai

The Church of St. John the Evangelist is also called the "Afghan Church" since it was built spiritual memorial to the gallantry of those officers and men who laid down their lives in the first and second Afghan wars. This church was chosen because it was intended to combine the original purpose with an object of the highest spiritual life.Featuring neo-Gothic architecture, stained-glass windows and a 60 metre high tower and spire.Architecturally, St. John's was not outstanding, but historically it was the first Church, erected in India along the lines laid down by the Ecclesiological society embodying the new principles of Gothic Architecture.The finest segment of the church is the Great West window with a beautiful glass on it. In 1858, it was a novel architectural experiment in India but it paved the way for the high Victorian buildings both secular and ecclesiastical that were to become the hallmark of the British architecture, in India.Sir George Russell Clerk laid the foundation stone of the church on the 4 December 1847 by . Bishop of Bombay, John Harding consecrated the church on January 7, 1858.The spire cost a sum of Rs 5,65,000 and was finished on June 10, 1865. Sir Cowasji Jehangir who contributed a sum of Rs 7,500 to help complete the building.