Navrongo Cathedral

Our Lady of Seven Sorrows at Navrongo was built in 1906 by the first Catholic missionaries to reach the north of what was then the Gold Coast, and it is unusual in being constructed of mud in the local manner rather than in imported materials, with thick earth walls and a timber roof. What makes it distinctive is the interior: in the 1970s women from the surrounding villages painted the walls and pillars with the same geometric earth-pigment patterns used on compound houses at Sirigu and elsewhere, applied to a church interior, with Christian imagery worked into local forms. It remains the cathedral of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga diocese and is in regular use.

What to look for

• The mud construction - thick earth walls in the local building tradition.
• Painted interior - the geometric earth-pigment work on walls and pillars.
• Local Christian imagery - biblical subjects rendered in regional forms.
• The working church - the cathedral in ordinary parish use.

When to go

November to March in the dry season. Visits outside Mass times are easiest; ask at the parish office. Mornings are cooler and the interior light is better.

Things to know

This is a working cathedral and services take precedence over visits. The interior is dim and photography needs permission. There is no formal visitor provision or interpretation. The building requires continual maintenance as mud construction does.

Nearby

Paga lies north at the border; Bolgatanga is south.

Key facts