THE ARCHITECTURE OF HOLY CROSS CATHEDRAL LAGOS

Opaluwa Ejiga, Caleb University Lagos, Nigeria, ejigsopals@yahoo.com

Professor Joseph Igwe, University of Lagos, Nigeria, jmigwe@yahoo.com
Yakubu Kashim, Kano University of Science and Technology, kashyakub@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
It is the function of the historian of architecture to trace the origin, growth, and decline of the architectural styles
which have prevailed in different lands and ages. It is also his function to explain the principles of the styles,
their characteristic forms and decoration, and to describe the great masterpieces of each style and period. The
historian does with the aim of preserving a people’s achievement from physical and mental destruction hence
securing their identity, culture and way of life. Holy Cross Cathedral is one of the architectural masterpieces that
have defined the Nigerian landscape and like every architectural creation it is a product of cultural, economic,
religious and geographical influences. This paper examined the architectural style of the edifice belonging to the
catholic mission within the realm of architectural history.

Keywords: Cathedral, Lagos, Gothic Architecture, Catholic Architecture

INTRODUCTION
Lagos was once Nigeria’s capital and still remains Nigeria’s commercial capital and most prosperous
city. Lagos metropolis is home to a number of places and buildings that contribute and help define the
history of the most populous “black” nation in the world. This paper is a presentation on one of the
few remaining unique architectural pieces of the Nigerian nation.

The hands of time is now turned, it’s a hot humid day; a characteristic typical to low lying coastal
states. The year is 1961; the euphoria of independence is still in the air, we are taking a stroll down
Catholic Missions Street basking in scenery that may have left a tourist wondering if he/she were on
the streets of Caracas in Brazil or in Lagos, Nigeria. Moving from the eastern end of Missions street
towards its western end, one cannot help but notice the grand City Hall building with its approach and
fore-ground bearing the looks and features of modernism on the right, with a touch of neoclassicism
in its recreated Ionic orders, further west beyond the City Hall is a property belonging to the Catholic
Mission which houses its group of schools.

Fig. 1: View of City Hall

Source: 1st Author
 Most of the buildings then were
constructed with deep pitched roof,
with some of them having projecting
garrets, which opened to attic spaces.
Balusters and engaged columns crafted
in different styles, highly articulated
fenestrations with mouldings rendered
in contrasting pastel
colours were other major
characteristic feature of
these buildings (Aradeon,
1994). The street
terminates at a cross road,
to the left is Mobolaji Bank
Anthony street. On the
right of the latter is a
commercial/office building
exemplifying the
International Style of
modern architecture; a
property of BGL
Investment Banking.

Fig. 2
Property of BGL; a piece of modern architecture with distinctive display of verticality
Source: 1st Author

Another left turn at the second cross road junction brings one to Campbell Street which was home to a
number of Brazilian styled vernacular architecture but which has over the years experienced
conversion to mixed use contemporary architecture.

Fig. 3 Aerial view of Holy Cross Cathedral site showing bounding streets & adjacent buildings
Source: Google Earth 23/07/2013
On the left side of the above mentioned streets – Catholic Mission Street when facing west; Mobolaji
Bank Anthony when facing south; Campbell Street when facing east – is the site that houses the
edifice of the Holy Cross Cathedral (HCC) and associated building. The Cathedral was originally a
place of worship exclusive to the Agudas (Brazilian returnees at inception) but now has become a
multicultural, multi-ethnic, church with the practice of the Catholic Christian faith being a common
denominator to all.

HISTORY
The Holy Cross Cathedral, with a simple cruciform shape as if held by a hand on plan, has its
beginning as far back as 1864 - a period after the abolition of human trafficking and slavery. In an
account given by Rev. Fr. Julius A. Olaitan, the history of the cathedral is connected with the
historical deportation of Brazilians of African origin, whose return started in 1838. These returnees
were mostly Nigerians of Yoruba origin transported by Portuguese merchants to Brazil as slaves. As
usual with “Man” the generations of the exiled acquired and appropriated the knowledge of the
language, culture and religion of their masters.

It is upon this backdrop that in 1864, the Agudas led by Senghor Izidore Ezechiel de Souza negotiated
and acquired land from the British Government as the site for the construction of their church
building. Immediately after acquisition a huge wooden cross was erected on site as a sign of claim and
ownership. Fourteen years after, the foundation stone of the Holy Cross Cathedral was laid. In a
statement credited to Mother Veronique, the ceremony saw the Government band providing music
with Sir C. Alfred Moloney – Governor of the Colony – leading the pack of brick transporters of men
and women, old and young who vied with each other to convey the bricks from the waterside to the
site. A group of craftsmen and master builders of the Brazilian art headed by Lazarus Borges da Silva
were contracted for the construction of the church. In 1881, the church building was completed along
with one of its towers; it was dedicated and put to use, and by 1883 like an ideal regimented
construction programme the second tower was completed also.
Common with every living thing that grows, the structure that housed the living church eventually
became too small and in need of the application of the cliché “church expansion project”. Still
maintaining its Afro-Brazilian theme but expressed in a Gothic Revival style, a new foundation stone
for the present edifice of the Holy Cross Cathedral was re-laid in August 1934 with Bishop Rourke
seeing to its construction and supervision (Guide to Lagos, 1975; Olaitan 2013). In a text book
reconstruction spanning two years, the project was completed in 1936 under the supervision of Fr.
Aime Simon (Aradeon 1994).

ARCHITECTURE
To describe the architecture of Holy Cross Cathedral without reference to the Catholic belief system
and liturgy can be likened only to talks of sighting a Polar Bear in the Kalahari Desert. For thousands
of years starting from first century A.D. when Emperor Constantine’s edit gave Christianity the
freedom of worship, the Catholic faith has transformed the Roman Basilica, which readily presented
itself by being suitable to her liturgical behaviour, to the orthodox worship centres or the Pentecostal
worship arenas of today.

The Holy Cross Cathedral is placed in a slightly skewed East-West orientation, which is in tandem
with the orientation of places of worship dating back to the time of the Egyptian burial temple
complex. The edifice has its main entrance on the western end facing the east which is symbolic of the
liturgy of not just the catholic mission but of the Christian faith but epitomised by the Catholics in
building form. This stance by the adherents of the catholic faith has received authentication many
times over. One of the latest by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI during his papacy reign said: they did
not close themselves into a circle; they did not gaze at one another, but as the pilgrim people of God
they set off for the Oriens, for the Christ who comes to meet us (Portoghesi, 2011). This he said in
response to the ideal axis of worship. In summary, every Christian denomination with this oriental
philosophy has its roots in this statement: “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of
righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall”
(Mal 4:2 KJV).
The façade of the Holy Cross cathedral in typical gothic style with origins in Romanesque is subtly
raised from the ground by four marble stone risers, having her projected entrance porch done with an
equilateral-arch enabling her to dream in reaching out in height, but this dream was dashed for the
pillars or clustered columns or piers on which they stood are relatively short when compared to other
older gothic architecture; an architectural style that was prevalent between 1150 – 1500 A. D. The
entrance porch is rendered with five layers of concentric deep jambs but this revived architectural
style especially the deep jambs of the arch are not decorated with portal figures, images of vices or
evil and virtue or good, a necessary art and part of liturgy meant to awaken the souls of worshipers
with an intense notion and feeling meant to instigate them to flee from vices and evil and practice
virtues and goodness (Benedict XVI, 2009). The act of celebrating the entrance door has its roots in
the Bible’s book of John 10:1-9 where Jesus the head of the Church categorically states “I am the
door”.

Fig. 4 Western end of the HCC having the Main entrance characterised by the raised floor and deep
jambs
Source: 1st Author
Standing at almost sixteen meters in height – a great height for a building not having mezzanine nor
upper floors – this beautiful cathedral stands a dwarf when again compared to typical European gothic
churches which are associated with an architectural style whose principal characters emphasize
vertical thrusts - a kind of reaching for the heavens.

Fig. 5 The symbol of the praying hand; the concept behind Gothic architecture.
Source: Google images 31/05/14.

Like a hand clasped in prayer, the Holy Cross Cathedral with her vertical architectural lines in the
form of pedestals, robust pillars/columns/piers and pointed arches/vaults is divided into ten bays, with
the congregational nave having seven, two at the Apse and one for the transept. The Cathedral also
has two other noticeable exit doors located on the Northern and Southern ends on a part of the
building called the “Transept”. It is this architectural expression that gives her the cruciform shape on
plan. This general character is a sublime call to her faithful users to long for God in prayer. The other
principal character of gothic architecture called luminosity is a visible feature of this cathedral, her
walls were penetrated and embellished by colourful stained glass windows finished with adapted
versions in Saros style of geometrical bar-tracery and reticulated flowing bar-tracery.

Like a movie in still frames, her luminous windows are meant to instruct the people in faith for they
bare on them, narrations of biblical events causing a sizeable amount of light to flood the interior,
shedding light on the history of salvation by involving them in this history.

Fig. 6 Stained glass tracery windows on the walls of the aisles and clerestory walls.
Source: 1st Author.

Fig. 7 Stained glass tracery windows telling the story of biblical events as light shines through them
Source: 1st Author.

Holy Cross Cathedral’s faith which is celebrated in particular liturgical ways, encountered the art
through its craft builder by creating a profound synchrony, making visible the invisible things of the
Christian religion. This is with reference to the beautifully crafted flying-buttress best described in the
words of Hans Sedlmayr when he expressed the gothic architecture as a reproduction of the heavenly
Jerusalem, a form of crystal in a state of suspension, for heavenly Jerusalem is on a visit to earth
(Schlink, 1998).

The general arrangement and scheme of the building is an entrenched pattern generated by bishops
and the papacy refined by years and had become common to almost all catholic churches. The precise
form of each detail of the church was determined by the skill and fancy of Lazarus Borges da Silva
and his guild of craftsmen. Since, architecture is the instrument that translates the meta-physical realm
into the physical, the master builder of the Cathedral found himself attacking new challenges (not
recorded) and devising new solutions to older challenges (not recorded) in his construction of the
cathedral which led to her eventual outlook. The equilateral-arch version of the pointed arch/vault
used by her constructors to give her the desired height and carry the load of her roof were
concentrated upon isolated points of support – columns/pillars – which were made feasible by
combining them in groined vaults pattern.
Fig. 8 External buttress support (left) combined with flying half arches (right) to form the flying
buttress structural support system
Source:1st Author.

As a result, there is a corresponding concentration of mass masonry at these points which gives the
feel that the building seems to be standing on legs. With this kind of system the walls where applied
to serve mainly as fill-ins between the piers/buttress, and in other places supported the construction of
large windows. This constructive system ensured the structural stability of the building based on a
system known as balanced thrusts; resisting thrusts by a counter-thrusts and transmitting the resulting
pressure through flying half-arches, this combination is what is seen and known as the flying buttress
in this edifice.
Gazing high into the clerestory wall one cannot help but notice a wavy loop which is a result of an
awkward penetration generated by the intersection of a small narrow vault with a wide big vault.
In line with liturgical requirements, the choir of this cathedral is deeper, a characteristic known only
to Gothic style of architecture; it has two side-aisles carried around the apsidal terminating at the choir
forming a single ambulatory. She also bears another mark that distinguishes her as a Gothic styled
cathedral - shortened transepts. Unlike the great heights (upwards of 18m), slenderness of all
structural parts, lofty clerestory, arcaded triforium, the very high pointed pier-arches associated with
the style, the Holy Cross Cathedral appears to have a simpler, lower and more massive appearance
similar to what is obtained in Romanesque edifice.

Fig. 9 The column/pier/pillar that holds up the groined arch (left) columns/piers/pillars the legs upon
which the structure stands (middle) clustered columns as massive support for groined vaults
intersecting at transept (right)
Source: 1st Author.
Fig. 10 Wavy loops can be noticed on the clerestory wall where the small arches of the clerestory window
intersects with the large vaults of the roof (right) the deep choir with aisles that make the ambulatory at transept
(left).
Source: Author.

The crowning feature which gives this building her greater association with the gothic style is the
addition of towers and spires, known sometimes as steeple(s) or pinnacle(s). For Holy Cross
Cathedral, this feature along with the raking cornice of her gable ends are covered with a
proportionate size and number of crocket adding a beauty that makes it look like an embroidery finish.
This paper would be incomplete without mentioning a very notable feature of this style of architecture
which is conspicuously present on the façade of the Holy Cross Cathedral. This feature is the
beautifully crafted rose window with its tracery made out of smaller circles of concrete, simplistic yet
striking.

Fig. 11 Spires decorated with crockets (left) Rose window laid out in simplistic fashion (right)
Source: 1st Author.

The authors deem it appropriate to conclude this paper by rephrasing the text inscription on the main
door of St. Denis Cathedral in Paris to suit the architectural expression of this land mark heritage to
the Nigerian people by saying “passers-by, you who want to praise the beauty of this building, do not
be dazzled either by its architectural rendition or expression, or by her magnificence, but by the
laborious work. Standing before your eyes shines a notable work, but may God to whom this church is
dedicated to allow that this famous work makes the spirits of her faithfuls and all Christians shine, so
that with luminous truths we will walk toward the true and only light, where Christ is the true door”
(italics are the author’s modification).

REFERENCES
Aradeon, D. (1994) The unmaking of tradition, African quarterly on the arts, Volume 11,
No.3, 72 – 85.
Cardinal Ratzinger J. (2007) The spirit of liturgy or fidelity to the council: response to father
Gy. Antiphon, 11.1, 98 – 102.
Gy Pierre-Marie, (2007) Cardinal Ratzinger’s the spirit of liturgy: Is it faithful to the council or in
reaction to it. Antiphon, 11.1, 90 – 96.
Murphy C. J. (2007) Nervous Tracery: Modern Analogies between Gothic Architecture and
Scholasticism. Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, 33.1, 75 – 85.
Olaitan A. J. (2011) Holy Cross Cathedral. Nigerian local guide, Expert guide to Nigeria.
Retrieved 28th June 2013 from http://nigerianlocalguide.com
Portoghesi P. (2011) To make these stones live, aesthetics is not enough. Sacred
Architecture, Issue 19, 10 -12.
Schlink W. (1998) The Gothic cathedral as heavenly Jerusalem: A fiction in German art history,
Studies in honour of Bazalel Narkiss on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, Hebrew university,
Jerusalem. Jewish art, 23/24, 275 – 285.
Seriki E. and Pullybank E. (1975) Guide to Lagos 1975. Retrieved 28th June 2013 from
http://guidetolagos201975.html
Stroik D. G. (2010) Pope Benedict XVI on architecture: quotes from various addresses and writings.
Retrieved 10th May 2014, from http://sacredarchitecture.org
Stroik D. G. (2011) Commentary. Material Religion, Volume 7, issue 3, 429 – 431.
Vicenzino R. (2013) Catholic church architecture and the spirit of the liturgy, Sacred
Architecture Journal. Retrieved 10th May 2014 from
http://sacredarchitecture/articles/catholic churcharchitectureandthespiritofliturgy.org