Afghan Church

The Church of St John the Evangelist, known as the Afghan Church, stands in Navy Nagar, Colaba, in South Mumbai and belongs to the Church of North India. The British built it between 1847 and 1858 in memory of those who died in the First Afghan War and the disastrous retreat from Kabul in 1842; memorials at the back of the nave also list those killed in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The first stone was laid in 1847, the church was consecrated in 1858 and the steeple completed in 1865, the land having been granted partly in the hope that the spire would guide ships into harbour.

Henry Conybeare designed the building, William Butterfield supplied the reredos, tiles, pews and screen, and William Wailes made the stained glass. In 2018 some 64 of its historic stained glass panels were reported to be in urgent need of restoration. The church replaced an earlier thatched chapel where worshippers had to bring their own chairs.