3 firms in race to renovate Christ Church

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 22

The restoration of Christ Church, one of the most prominent landmarks of the town, is expected to begin shortly as three companies, having expertise in conservation of heritage structures, have sent in their bids to undertake the work.

With today being the last day for sending in the bids for restoration of church, three companies, all from outside the state, are in the race to undertake the restoration work under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) project.

A Rs 15-crore restoration and conservation project to save both Catholic Church, located near the Army Training Command, and Christ Church on the Ridge, has been approved by the ADB.

The work is part of second phase of the ADB project for restoration of the churches and renowned conservation architects, structural engineers, stone conservation specialist and stained glass and pipe organ conservators have been roped in to restore the original structure.

“Technical bids from three companies have been received by the Tourism Department and shortly these will be processed along with financial bids so that work can be assigned to a company to save Christ Church from crumbling,” revealed an official.

Work is likely to begin within three months, once it is assigned and all formalities completed.

Keen to preserve the British legacy in the form of architectural masterpieces, the department is keen that all churches and cemeteries in the state are restored.

To begin with, the restoration of the two churches in Shimla will be taken up. The Gaiety Theatre has been restored at a cost Rs 7 crore while the conservation project for the Town Hall housing the Shimla Municipal Corporation is nearing completion.

The cornerstone of Christ Church was laid on September 8, 1844, and it was opened for the first divine service on October 11, 1846.

It was built out of stone and brick in lime mortar by Col JT Boileau in Neo-Gothic elements. This was the first proper church which was built by the British Government. The stained glass windows and the altar were added in 1860.

The porch was added later on and the organ was shipped from England. Lockwood Kipling, father of Rudyard Kipling, designed the original chancel window and was executed by his students from Mayo School of Art.

The Tourism Department had even got complete documentation of all churches and cemeteries in Himachal done with the objective of attracting tourists from Britain. There are some very old churches at Shimla, Kasauli, Dalhousie and Sabathu.