St. Thomas’ Cathedral

St. Thomas Cathedral is the oldest Anglican church in Mumbai. It opened in 1718, and its completion marked the formal beginning of the city’s fort area. Builders designed the Cathedral to serve British officers, merchants, and sailors, and it stood at the heart of Bombay’s early civic life.

Its importance is reflected in the geography of that period. When workers built the fort, they named one of the main gates Church Gate because of the Cathedral. The main east-west axis road, which ran by the Cathedral, was named Church Road, and later, Churchgate Road. Its presence endures as the nearby area and railway station are called Churchgate. At some point in time, it also served as the point-zero for all the milestones in the Bombay Presidency.

Over the centuries, St. Thomas’ Cathedral has seen Bombay grow from a small port settlement into a major colonial metropolis. Inside lie memorials to ship captains, civil servants, soldiers, and early settlers, capturing the city’s history. Carefully restored in the 20th and 21st centuries, it is a serene reminder of Bombay’s earliest colonial beginnings.