The Christ Church in Shimla is the most prominent landmark in town. Who is the one who comes here and does not want to pay a visit to this ‘Taj Mahal’ of Shimla. The building was designed by Colonel J. T. Boileau a famous architect from Shimla in 1844 but was opened for general public in 1857. Boileau already had a house on the observatory hill, before it was occupied for the Viceregal Lodge to be built. The house was used as an observatory and so the hill got its name.
Few of the major attractions of the Church are the clock that was donated by Colonel Dumbelton in 1860, the porch built in 1873 and of course inside the stained glass windows designed by Lockwood Kipling.
Kipling had a deep association with this hill Town. In 1885 Lockwood Kipling was the professor of arts in Mayo College – Lahore. There he received an invitation to come to Shimla and design the stained glass windows for the Christ Church. When father Lockwood was busy making these windows his son Rudyard Kipling got himself involved writing his ‘Plain Tales from the Hills’ and ‘Kim’, later both the books brought him fame.
The building of the church suffered a serious damage in 1961 due to a heavy snowfall and the northern wall was collapsed. That also caused a serious damage to some of the frescoes and some plaques. Look at the picture of the stained glass windows inside the Christ Church Shimla. Every window was dedicated to some of the prominent citizens of the town at that time.
Now look at the hole in the yellow circle.
A few months ago someone in the middle of the night broke into the Church and disappeared with the donation box. Just for a few rupees we lost such a piece of Heritage and that just due to the negligence of the management of the Church.
Why can’t they have a security guard?
Christ Church in Shimla keeps such a status in the hearts of locals that everyone, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian, while passing the church bow his head. The building has made a places in everyone’s heart and no one can tolerate any damage or any loss to it.
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