A Tale of Two Churches
On the 12th day of Christmas, behind a barricade of containers and lined fencing, a large excavator rumbles towards the heavy front doors of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch. On either side are growing piles of arched and carved Oamaru and Mount Somers stone, pulled from the colonnaded exterior and razed portico. Ahead are the standing remains of cracked walls, broken windows and doomed scroll-shaped volutes, now the resting place for a cooing population of soon-to-be-evicted pigeons. Since September, a demolition crew has been working its way through the 116-year-old building, methodically picking away at the cornice, frieze and architraves of the Romanesque Catholic basilica once described as the finest Renaissance-style building in Australasia.
The basilica is the lesser-known of Christchurch’s two main cathedrals — the other being the eponymous Anglican ChristChurch Cathedral in the Square. During the earthquake that shattered the city in February 2011, both suffered heart-breaking damage. In 40 seconds, ChristChurch Cathedral’s spire toppled, the top of the tower imploded and part of the roof collapsed. The basilica lost the tops of two towers, its west wall shattered, and its grand dome twisted. The statue of Mary in the window wobbled a full 180 degrees to gaze out at the battered city.
The basilica was the one that was supposed to be saved. While the Anglican bishop, Victoria Matthews, announced plans to pull down her cathedral and replace it with a contemporary one, the Catholic bishop, Barry Jones, seemed determined to preserve his. In 2015, he approved a $45 million project to rescue the nave — the central part of a church’s interior extending from the entrance to the altar. The rest of the Category 1 heritage building would be mothballed until funds could be secured to restore it. Just months after the earthquake, workers began dismantling, recording and storing salvaged materials in an emergency process hailed as a masterclass of sensitive deconstruction. “It lifts the heart just to realise there is a possibility,” Jones told NZ Catholic. “No bishop wants to demolish his cathedral.”
Fast forward 10 years, and the columned arcades, steep arches and ornate balustrade are being ground into rubble and dust. “I can’t watch it,” says heritage campaigner Dame Anna Crighton. “It is vandalism, total vandalism.”
To replace the basilica, the Catholic diocese is preparing to build a huge $126 million cathedral precinct in the inner city, comprising a modern 1000-seat cathedral, as well as an office building, car park and presbytery. This complex is part of an even larger $500 million “North of the Square” collaboration between the Crown, prominent property investor Philip Carter and the Christchurch Catholic Diocese.
In his small diocesan office, Jones’ replacement, Bishop Paul Martin, who gave the green light to the demolition, cuts an authoritative figure. A former bursar
