St. Matthew's Church Photo

Photographer’s Note

We had driven from Kalam to Attock City the day previously, arriving very late. Attock City was alive with a festival atmosphere, and last minute electioneering for the national elections to be held Thursday, October 10. Our hotel was noisy, but I was so tired I slept through it all. On the ninth, we left Attock City early, for PC Bhurban, via Haripur, and Abbottabad. From Abbottabad we followed the Murree Road which skirts the boundary of the Margalla Hills National Park, reaching Nathia Gali at 2500 metres and 25 kms or so distance from Abbottabad.

St. Matthew's Church was built (of wood) by the British in 1914. It is part of the Church of Pakistan, Diocese of Peshawar. The COP was formed in 1970 by the amalgamation of the Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran and Presbyterian denominations. Unfortunately, the church was locked so I could not take a look inside.

Nobody has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

greentara (143) 2009-07-24 16:33

Hi Ken,

I was just looking through your photos and saw this. My father was in Abbottabad during the war with the British army when it was still part of British India. These relics of the Raj are nostalgic to me. Many in India are not in very good shape. This one looks to be quite well kept. The church in Mcleod Ganj is in disrepair because there is not much of a congregation to keep it going although services are conducted there every Sunday. One tends not to think of such structures in Pakistan.

Thanks, Joan