David Adjaye, the architect of the National Cathedral of Ghana project, which is currently on hold after allegations of corruption in the project, has for the first time spoken about the project.

In a recent podcast interview with renowned British journalist Tim Abrahams, David Adjaye stated that the National Cathedral is not going to be a mere cathedral where people would just visit to worship.

He explained that the project is largely an event centre, which will not only host activities of Christ but also have facilities that would bring a lot of economic benefits to the country.

“What it is really to me is that we call it a cathedral, but I was surprised that people were saying, ‘Why is David doing a cathedral?’ If you know anything about what I do or how I work, typologies are opportunities to understand and frame the 21st century through the lens of the past, but also to bring the future ideas into the present.

“The Cathedral is really a cultural infrastructure. This is a country which is still very spiritually focused. So we’ve used that as the platform to create an event centre, a gathering space for the nation, community gardens — there has not been a garden since Nkrumah made independence… museums, a school of music, teaching spaces, and the first theological library of African Christianity,” he explained.

He added, “People think general tourism is important, but actually specific tourism, religious events, is the real economic generator. In West Africa, before art, the biggest revenue generator is religion. So, this is a win-win for the government.”

‘National Cathedral project is not dead, it’s just on hold’ - Architect David Adjaye

David Adjaye also explained that the project will provide an avenue to showcase the way Ghanaians practice Christianity to the world.

“So there is Ghanaian Christianity, which is very different from Nigerian Christianity. And in that Ghanaian Christianity, there are multiple strands. There's obviously Catholicism, Church of England. Those are one set of things. So it is a huge multiplying, almost, I think, fractalizing leaf pattern of parts that you need to understand.

“It's really a cathedral for the dominant religion. It's not chosen because somebody likes Christians more than Muslims. It's just for the dominant religion that is in the country. But a platform not to just celebrate the religion, but to understand it, and then to see the impact that the sort of edification that can happen from what that thing is, rather than just looking at it and accepting it,” he said.

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