2010_01_31 St.Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide

Had this idea of going to church after work or before work on Sunday. Finally managed to force myself to make out some time to do it. It’s actually not too bad an idea if i really can kept it up, haha. Thought I don’t think it will last at all, LOL.

The first church that came into my mind is the St.Peter’s Anglican Cathedral which is located on King William Road and to me, it seems like the biggest church or most stand out church in Adelaide CBD that I have seen and can reach.

To get there from my work place involve walking a 15 mins walk on a normal pace which took me across the Torrens river, a very nice place/garden for walking/relaxing.

 


The architecture of the church is pretty AMAZING!!!!
 



And it’s really a BIG historic cathedral church. So far this church is the biggest and prettiest among all the church I have came across around South Australia. It has a history dated back to the 1869 although restorations have been carried out again by 1990s.


St Peter's Cathedral is open to visitors from 9:30am to 4:00pm, Monday to Saturday and Sundays between services and 12 noon to 4:00pm. The Cathedral is staffed by Welcomers during opening hours and there are informative booklets available at the back of the Cathedral in various languages to allow visitors to take a self guided tour (http://www.stpeters-cathedral.org.au/web/welcome).

I went without checking out the time for visitors but thinking it might be open for services on a typical Sunday and I was lucky that there actually was an evening service. The best of all was I reached earlier so I have a bit of time explore the church on my own.

Though what I saw and felt when I stepped into the church from one of the side door was TOTALLY UNEXPECTED!!! Seriously, I was totally OVERWHELMED by this grant internal building structure and the kind of “sanctuary/divine” feeling that grasp me instantly. I was pretty much speechless for a while.

Perhaps It’s common for others to see this kind of church but definitely first time for me even though I have been to a few in Malaysia, certainly nothing match what I saw here. I knew that this kind design is common in most European countries, but still I totally LOVE it. It’s really magical how the internal design can make one feel so different.

The description from this website http://www.adelaide.world-guides.com/adelaide_churches.html describes it all: "With classical neo-Gothic architecture, a tall cathedral spire, a cavernous interior filled with period features, stone carvings and impressive stained-glass windows depicting historical events in South Australia, other attractions at Adelaide's St. Peter's Cathedral include a lantern tower, a large pipe organ, modern Clerestory windows, a marble Christening font dating back to 1877, guided tours, regular parish church services and a religious gift shop, selling a range of cathedral souvenirs."

Those stained glass windows that have the design of Christianity/historical events of SA looked so colourful and pretty. The limited/control amount of light that the stained glass windows allows make the inside of the church even more divine. Simply Amazing!!!
 


What made my first visit even more of an experience with any church was that before the evening service that’s about to start later was the choir. They were doing their routine rehearse. And their AMAZING voice ,the music from the large pipe organ and hymn together with the grand building structure just stunned me as if I can really feel god is really around!!!!


I really like the photo below depicting someone praying with the beautiful background of the church but unfortunately, the pic was a bit out of focus, but STILL LOVE it!!! AND YES!!! I STAYED FOR THE EVENING SERVICE!!! It was more a short praising lord service :)


I just can’t stop snapping photos of the stained glass windows and the rainbow-like colour that falls on the wall when the sunlight passed through from the stained glass windows on the other side of the building (yes even during the service, LOL)!!!
 




Special hey?? Love this photo below with the more striking colours from the setting sun!!!


I don’t think my photos was able to capture what I wanted to express and what I experienced in the church!!!!! Perhaps there’s no word and no photo can ever do the justice of holy divine atmosphere the church have!!!!