Eight years later, St. John's Cathedral opens for mass

The St John’s Cathedral has re-opened after an eight-year restoration project.
Restoration works are still ongoing at the Cathedral, however, the structure was opened for Easter Sunday Mass this morning.
People’s Warden for the St John’s Cathedral Parish and Public Relations Chairman for the Parish, Valerie Gonsalves-Barreiro spoke to OBSERVER this morning.
“We actually had a service last night. We processed from St. Andrew’s Anglican Church where we have been worshiping for the last eight years since the closure of the St. John’s Cathedral and after the procession we had an Easter vigil which was well attended by parishioners. And this morning our first Easter Day Service was at 6 a.m.and that too was well attended,” she said.
Gonsalves-Barreiro also noted that the 8 a.m. mass had a large turnout.
The present church is the successor cathedral built in the same location where two other churches had existed one after the other.
The first St. John’s Anglican Church built in Antigua in 1681, was a simple wooden structure, devoid of any decorations.
This was severely damaged in the earthquake in 1745. The second, much larger church, was built in 1746 of English bricks. The architect of this church was Robert Cullen.
Nearly a century later, the Diocese of Antigua was established in 1842, and St. John’s designated its cathedral. Soon thereafter, however, in February 1843, an earthquake caused serious damage to the church.