Cathedral Church of Christ Marina: the oldest cathedral in Nigeria

A grey and white edifice captures your sight as you travel down the bustling Lagos Marina, a major business center on Lagos Island, its beauty nearly making you halt for a short moment. This is the Cathedral Church of Christ, a stunning structure located in the heart of Marina Lagos. It is the Church of Nigeria’s oldest Anglican cathedral.

The cathedral’s foundation stone was set on March 29, 1867, and the cathedral was dedicated in 1869. The Christ Church Cathedral is one of Nigeria’s oldest and most significant buildings. The Church is an important aspect of Nigerian Christian history and symbolizes a piece of Nigerian colonial history.

In November 1924, architect Began Benjamin rebuilt the cathedral, and the then Prince of Wales, later King Edward the fifth, laid the cornerstone of the Cathedral Church of Christ Marina in Lagos. The structure was erected in 1946 and has housed the primate of the Church of Nigeria at various periods throughout its existence.

The Cathedral also houses what was formerly Nigeria’s largest organ, built by Oberlinger Orgelbau and renovated by Harrison & Harrison in the early twenty-first century. The relics of Rev Dr. Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the Anglican Church’s first African bishop, were transported to the cathedral in 1976. As a memorial to him, a cenotaph has been erected.