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Mumbai's iconic Afghan War Memorial Church restored to its former glory
Updated On: 03 March, 2024 04:01 AM IST | Mumbai | Christalle Fernandes
On the southern-most tip of the city stands a church that’s rare for its historical significance and architectural marvels. The Afghan War Memorial Church restoration, stuttering over 25 years, comes to a happy end after two years of continuous toil
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The stained glass windows feature the Apostles of the New Testament and needed to be treated along with the frames they were set in. For the broken clerestory windows at the sides of the church, locally-available glass replacements were created. Fresh timber trusses were crafted for the roof
When Kirtida Unwalla stepped into the precincts of the Afghan War Memorial Church at what’s possibly one of the farthest ends of Mumbai, the enormity of the restoration and conservation challenge required for the 165-year old structure struck her like a sock in the face. She remembers it in utter disrepair; like “remnants of a war-zone”. This was 1998.
Last week, Unwalla stood inside the Grade-I heritage structure, with the seven teams of consultants who had worked on it for the past two years, and called the result “a dream come true”. “When we started,” she remembered, “I had just got back from the UK after my architectural conservation training. It was 1996.” This was her first professional conservation project. Unwalla’s association with the church erected as a war memorial for the 4,500 British soldiers and 12,000 camp followers who perished in the first (1838 to 1940) and second (1878 to 1880) Anglo-Afghan wars, is 30-year-long. A project of this size requires funds, and the first lot came from the Church Committee, INTACH Mumbai, and “friends of the Afghan Church”, she recalls.
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