East of the National Museum, the imposing twin towers of the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine (daily 9am-5pm; free) are the capital's dominant landmark. A simple wooden church was first built on this hilltop site in 1681 and, after heavy destruction was wrought by a number of earthquakes and hurricanes, the present cathedral was put up in 1847.

From the outside, the grey-stone Baroque building is not particularly prepossessing - squat and bulky with the two towers capped by slightly awkward cupolas.

More attractively, the airy interior of the cathedral is almost entirely encased in dark pine, designed to hold the building together in the event of earthquake or hurricane, and the walls are dotted with marble tablets commemorating distinguished figures from the island's history, some of them rescued from the wreckage of earlier churches here and incorporated into the new cathedral.

In the grounds of the cathedral, the whitewashed and equally Baroque lead figures on the south gate - taken from a French ship near Martinique in the 1750s during the Seven Years' War between France and Britain - represent St John the Baptist and St John the Divine, draped in flowing robes.

 St John's

St. John's
  St John’s
  Getting around
  Eating and drinking
  Nightlife, casino, karaoke
  Airlines, embassies

Exploring St. John's
  Fort Bay
  Fort James
  Long Street
  National Museum
  Redcliffe Quay
  St. John's Cathedral

Antiqua guide

Antiqua
Where to go
When to go
Getting there
Money and costs
Getting around
Food and drink
Phones and post
Best of Antiqua
Holidays and festivals
Tours
Diving and snorkeling
Dive operators
Boats and catamarans
Boat operators
Economy, natural hazards
Antiqua brief history

Exploring Antiqua
- Barbuda:
  Getting there
  Beyond Cordrington
  Great Fort George
  Falmouth Harbour
  River Fort
  Cordrington

- Falmouth and English
  Harbour
  Eating, drinking, nightlife
  Falmouth
  Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley
  Heights, Pigeon Beach

- From Runaway Bay to
   Half Moon Bay
  Eating, drinking, nightlife
  Betty's Hope to Long Bay
  Half Moon Bay
  Runaway & Dickenson Bay

- West coast