High Altar

 

The high altar, where the Mass is offered, is the centrepiece of the whole church. The reredos features two monolithic Corinthian columns flanking an arched aedicule with a marble shelf, called the ‘throne’, intended for the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. The columns were shipped from Italy with great difficulty in view of the trade sanctions in place in the early 1930s. One arrived broken and the replacement took another twelve months to arrive, delaying the opening of the church. All the altars in the church are decorated with columns having capitals of the Corinthian order, the most elaborate of the three column-types in classical architecture, distinguished by ornamental acanthus leaves.

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