The Church of Saint Andrew is an Anglican church in Tangier, Morocco. Consecrated in 1905, the church is within the Archdeaconry of Gibraltar. The building is constructed in a Moorish architectural style.
St Andrew's Church | |
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Church of Saint Andrew | |
35°47′05″N 5°49′23″W / 35.78472°N 5.82306°W | |
Address | Tangier |
Country | Morocco |
Denomination | Anglicanism |
History | |
Status | Church |
Dedication | Andrew the Apostle |
Consecrated | 1905 |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Architectural type | Church |
Style | Moorish |
Completed | 1894 |
Administration | |
Archdeaconry | Gibraltar |
History
In 1880, Hassan I of Morocco donated land to the British community in order to build a small Anglican church in Tangier. The resulting church was soon found to have insufficient capacity for the increasing number of worshippers, and a new building was constructed in 1894 which became the Church of Saint Andrew.[1] It was consecrated in 1905.[2] The interior is designed as a fusion of numerous styles, notably Moorish. The belltower, shaped like a minaret, overlooks the adjacent cemetery.[3] Henri Matisse's painting of 1913, Landscape Viewed from a Window, depicts the church.[4]
The church has a number of memorial plaques, including one to commemorate Emily Keene, (1849–1944), Sherifa of Wazzan, who introduced the cholera vaccine to Morocco. She was a British humanitarian who married the Shareef of Ouazzane, a local religious leader. She died in Tangier and there is a plaque in the western side of the church to commemorate her - her actual grave is in the Wazzan family burial ground in the Marshan district of Tangier overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. Another memorial commemorates Thomas Kirby-Green, one of the members of the Great Escape who was executed on recapture.[5]
Administratively, the church is in the Archdeaconry of Gibraltar.[6]
Notable burials
The churchyard holds the graves of a number of notable people:
- Christopher Gibbs, (1938–2018), antique dealer and collector, credited with inventing Swinging London[7]
- Walter Burton Harris, (1866–1933), a British diplomat, journalist and author[5]
- Claire de Menasce and her second husband Commander Roy Howell RN. Claude-Marie Vincendon, her daughter by her first marriage, was the third wife of Lawrence Durrell[8]
- Paul Lund, (1915–1966), British gangster and friend of William Burroughs[9]
- Sir Harry MacLean, (1848–1920), soldier and commander of the Moroccan Army[10]