St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley, Anglican cathedral in Kimberley, South Africa.
St Cyprian's Cathedral is a Neo-Gothic Anglican church whose nave was dedicated in 1908; the chancel followed in 1926 as a war memorial, the Lady Chapel in 1936, and the bell tower in 1961. Its stained glass includes the Holy Spirit windows in the south transept, made of thick glass set in concrete by Pretoria artist Leo Theron.
The parish began in 1871 as a chapelry meeting in a tent in New Rush on the diamond fields. A prefabricated wood-and-iron church from England served from 1880 until the Neo-Gothic nave, whose foundation stone Bishop Gaul laid on 5 March 1907, was dedicated on 13 May 1908. The Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman was formed in October 1911, and Wilfrid Gore Browne was enthroned as first bishop on 30 June 1912.
The cathedral's name recalls St Cyprian's, Marylebone, London, where its first rector John Witherston Rickards had been a curate before arriving on the Diamond Fields in 1871. The parish began in a canvas tent billiard-room, where a robed clergyman read from a billiard table while a bar next door was separated only by canvas walls.
The cathedral stands on Du Toitspan Road, where the 1961 bell tower and 1979 hall and office complex mark the entrance. The nave was dedicated in 1908, while the chancel was completed only in 1926 as a war memorial. Visitors should check opening times in advance, as access may vary depending on services or events.
The south transept's Holy Spirit windows are made of thick, scintillating glass set in concrete, created by Pretoria artist Leo Theron. They complement the cathedral's earlier twentieth-century stained glass and are easy to miss among the older windows.
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