St Peters Church
St Peter’s Church is an old Dutch Colonial structure adjoining the northern end of Grand Oriental Hotel in Colombo’s Fort Region. It’s one of the oldest functioning churches within Sri Lanka. The church is often visited by travelers from various countries. Some of them have connections to its long history. The story of St Peter’s is an interesting one
The History
The Portuguese
Over 400 years ago, the Portuguese were ruling Sri Lanka. They considered Colombo to be quite an important port location. Therefore, they wished to spread their religion in the area and built a Dominican Monastery at the site where St Peter’s is today. The monastery included St Dominico, an early Gothic church; the Chapel of Misericordia (House of Mercy); and a charity hall. Of these, only an inscribed stone arch from the early church remains to this day. Historical records show that this early monastery was used as a place of worship by the sailors who stopped at the port.
The Dutch
By 1666, the island was taken over by the Dutch. They were very much against any form of religious symbols that were used by the Portuguese and were quite happy to destroy them. However, the church building was too good and solid to be destroyed. Instead, they converted it into the Governor’s official residence. The residence had a new and elegant two story facade with a view of the waterfront, a flat roof, a large arched portico of cubicle form, and several large windows that let in light and air. In its heyday, it served as the council building where meetings were held, receptions and banquets happened, and was the place where ambassadors from the Kingdom of Kandy were entertained.
The British
The building was used in this manner for over a century afterwards until the end of the Dutch rule in Sri Lanka, and the structure of the old church building slowly deteriorated. By the time the British took over in the late 1700’s, it was an old leaky roofed structure that was going into deep decline. Still the British were not in a position to immediately repair and renovate it after their costly war with the Dutch, and the building was used in the same worn out condition as a residence for the Lieutenant General Hay MacDowall who was the General Officer Commanding in Ceylon. Despite the British slowly establishing themselves in Colombo, the influence of the Dutch was deepest – and they were not able to find a place of worship for Anglicans.
Between the years of 1796 to 1803 the Dutch-built Wolvendaal Church started allowing Anglicans into their services. However, the British felt it insulting to have to go to the church of a different sect for their prayers. In 1804, the British Governor at the time, Frederick North, made the decision to renovate and convert the Lieutenant General’s residence to a Church for the British garrison in Colombo.
On the 14 March 1804, an announcement was published in the The Ceylon Government Gazette stating that ‘a Divine Service will be held at the Government House on Sunday at 4.30 p.m’. This first was conducted by Rev. James Cordi
