“This cathedral's altar stands on the exact spot of the old slave-market whipping post, built deliberately over Zanzibar's slave market the year the trade was abolished there.”
About Christ Church Cathedral
The Universities' Mission to Central Africa built Christ Church Cathedral from 1873, the year the Sultan, under British pressure, closed the Zanzibar slave market. Led by figures inspired by the abolitionist David Livingstone, the builders chose the market site on purpose. The cathedral was completed in the 1880s and remains a working Anglican church and a monument to abolition.
About Christ Church Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in the middle of Stone Town, Zanzibar, built in the late 19th century on one of the most painful sites on the island: the location of the former slave market. Its construction was a deliberate act of memory and atonement, raised over the place where enslaved people were once bought and sold.
Its construction was a deliberate act of memory and atonement, raised over the place where enslaved people were once bought and sold.
The Altar on the Whipping Post
The cathedral was begun in 1873, the same year Zanzibar's slave market was closed, on the orders of those campaigning against the trade. Its high altar is said to stand on the spot of the old whipping post, where captives were lashed to demonstrate their endurance to buyers. Beneath an adjacent building, former holding cells survive, dark and cramped, where people were confined before sale. A memorial of carved figures in a pit stands outside.
The Experience
Stepping into a cool, high cathedral and learn that the altar marks where the whipping post stood. Nearby, you can descend into the surviving slave-holding cells, low chambers where dozens were once packed together. Outside, a stark sculpture of chained figures stands in a sunken pit. The visit is sombre and moving rather than scenic, and it stays with you.
Why It Matters
Christ Church Cathedral is the central memorial to the East African slave trade, which passed hundreds of thousands of people through Zanzibar. By building a church on the market and its altar on the whipping post, its founders turned a place of suffering into one of remembrance, making it one of the most significant historic sites in the country.
Christ Church Cathedral is the central memorial to the East African slave trade, which passed hundreds of thousands of people through Zanzibar.
Why Visit
The most important abolition memorial in East Africa, a working cathedral built over Zanzibar's slave market, including the surviving holding cells and a powerful monument.
✦ Insider Tips
- 1
See the altar marking the site of the slave-market whipping post.
- 2
Visit the preserved slave-holding cells in the adjacent building.
- 3
View the sculpted slave memorial in the pit outside.
- 4
Treat the visit with respect; it commemorates great human suffering.
