2-798-862 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta, 1845. New Victorian Gothic church in India. '...the architect is Colonel Forbes, of the Engineers. The style of architecture is Gothic, or, as Mr. Britton terms it, Christian, modified by circumstances, that is, Indo-Gothic, or Indo Christian, if such words may be allowed...'. Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta, wrote: "My appreciation of the spiritual importance of the Cathedral as the first beginning of an indigenous Ministry, and the first Missionary institution not dependent on friends and societies at home, commenced in India, is higher than it ever was. I believe it is God who put it into the hearts of his servants. My object, in the whole is, as I trust, the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls. The external edifice is nothing. It is the edification of an invisible church to Christ in Heathen and Mahommedan India, which is my aim, my hope, and my prayer." From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.