The Old Diocesan Issue 12 - Magazine - Page 61
with little embellishment.
This element was considered by
Walgate to be so important that
he and the quantity surveyor
paid for it themselves.
The Italian word baldacchino is
derived from the city of Baghdad,
from where a luxurious fabric –
baldacco – used to make canopies,
was originally sourced. Baldachins
are a feature of several churches
in Europe, the most prominent
being St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican
City. In South Africa, though,
there’s a baldachin in only one
other church: the Cathedral of St
Mary the Virgin in Johannesburg,
designed by Herbert Baker’s
previous partner Frank Fleming,
and completed in 1929.
A delightful feature of the chapel
is the 10 different symbols on the
capitals of the columns, which are
similar to the 10 monograms found
in the Hagia Eirene in Istanbul.
These have recently been painted
in polychrome, which makes them
more visible than when they were
simply painted with the capitals
in monochrome.
As the building was funded
entirely by donations, evidence of
progress on site needed to be seen.
Council therefore decided to lay
the foundations before the main
building contract was awarded.
The foundation stone was laid
on 10 June 1925, and the chapel
was opened 16 months later, on
31 October 1926; a considerable feat.
The priority of completing the
building meant that the chapel
initially went without furnishings
– the boys stood for services.
Chairs were provided in batches;
the memorial timber panels were
added in 1936; and the three bells
were dedicated in 1937.
Baker, the great British architect
– designer of the Union Buildings
in Pretoria, School House, the final
stages of Founders House and the
Secretariat in New Delhi, India,
among others – was knighted in
the same year that the chapel was
opened. On his last visit to Cape
ABOVE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT
The baldacchino in St Peter’s Basilica,
Vatican City – note the imitation fabric;
the baldachin in the Memorial Chapel
today; one of the symbols on the capitals
depicting the ship as the Church with
Jesus at the helm and the Apostles
at the oars; the entrance to the chapel
off the colonnade displaying the names
of ODs who died in World War I below
the mosaic of St George and the dragon.
BELOW The College colonnade today.
