St Peter's Cathedral Rabat

St Peter's was begun in 1919 and consecrated in 1921, with the two square towers added in the 1930s, and it is one of the clearest pieces of art deco in Morocco - white, angular, stripped of ornament, with vertical fins and a flat geometric front that owes nothing to the Moorish revival idiom used for most public buildings of the protectorate period. It is a working cathedral, the seat of the archdiocese of Rabat, and its congregation now is largely sub-Saharan African - students and migrants from Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo and elsewhere who study or work in Morocco - which makes Sunday mass a very different thing from the small European congregations of a few decades ago, with African music and full pews. The interior is plain white with modern stained glass. Christianity in Morocco is legally practised by foreign residents rather than proselytised.

The main sights

• A 1921 art deco front - white, angular and stripped, with towers added in the 1930s.
• A working cathedral - the seat of the Rabat archdiocese, not a museum.
• A West African congregation - students and migrants filling Sunday mass.
• A plain interior - white walls with modern stained glass.

When to go

October to April; Sunday morning to see it in use. Half an hour.

Things to know

It is a working church - services take precedence and photography during them is inappropriate. Opening outside service times is not guaranteed. The interior is plain and quickly seen. It stands on a busy central square.

Nearby

The medina is north; the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern Art is close.