St Mary's Cathedral, Johannesburg 3.61

Saint Mary's Cathedral, officially the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, is the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg, South Africa. The Very Reverend Charles May was elected Bishop of the Diocese of the Highveld, by the Synod of the Bishops of Southern Africa. In late 2015 Father Xolani Dlwati was appointed to be next dean of the cathedral.HistoryIn 1887, the Reverend John Darragh was appointed rector of the first Saint Mary's Church. A block of land was purchased near Plein, De Villiers and Wanderers Streets in Johannesburg where the Chapel of Saint John Chrysostom was built. The plans of the cathedral were commissioned from the firm of Sir Herbert Baker, and Frank Fleming was the architect in charge. In 1921 the Chapel of All Souls was completed and on 13 May 1926 the construction of the main body of the cathedral commenced. The cathedral was completed and was consecrated on the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels, 29 September 1929.In the 1950s, St Mary's was one of the few racially-integrated churches in downtown Johannesburg. The cathedral is famous for its strong ties to the struggle against apartheid. In 1975 Desmond Tutu was appointed as the cathedral's first black dean. The dean prior to Tutu was Gonville ffrench-Beytagh who was convicted under South Africa's notorious anti-terrorism legislation, after his successful appeal against the conviction he immediately left South Africa to go into permanent exile. This left a vacancy which allowed Tutu to be appointed as the first black dean. In April 1993 the body of Oliver Tambo lay in state in the cathedral before he was laid to rest in Benoni.