St Andrew's Cathedral: Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Saint Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney is a colonial (mid 19th century) era building in the heart of Sydney City, right next to the old Town Hall. It occupies a prime piece of real estate, and is the seat of the Anglican church in Sydney.

There would have been a time when this was the most imposing and grand building in the whole of the New South Wales colony... however, in these modern times, it is dwarfed by the surrounding towers and skyscrapers. At least those buildings aren't quite so close,... the church owns all the surrounding land around the church and probably has enough political clout to keep the zoning in its favour.

This is one of the back rooms of the church... a smaller chapel... decked out in stone and trying to keep the wealth contained... well, at least in comparison to the Catholic places! However, there still is something about it that just screams old wealth.

Facing the other way in the chapel, you have tiered high seating... We used this area as a rehearsal space and a green room... quite large for that purpose, but I do wonder if this place has anything in the way of small discreet rooms for that sort of purpose.

Inside the cathedral itself, you have quite a grand display of high decorated arches and stunning stained glass windows. It is quite a definite departure from the Lutheran churches that I was used to in the Netherlands. Those were quite stark in comparison!

This was at the end of a particular cantata service... so there was quite a large "audience" and congregation that came for the service or the music... hopefully the music, but likely the service!

Anyway, even during the non-service times... the church is generally open to the public, and you will get quite a few people wandering in... either as tourists, or locals that are trying to escape the heat outside!