In 1999 Richard Giles was appointed Dean, with a brief to completely re-think the liturgical space. In 2002 a comprehensive renovation of the cathedral’s interior was completed, designed by architect George Yu.

The original building by Burns was a basilica in shape, though not in internal layout, and the renovation sought to remedy this. The basilica was the first form of Christian church building, adapted from the public assembly hall of the Roman Empire. The cathedral interior you now see before you replicates the layout of a place of Christian worship in the 4th century. An visitor from the Orthodox Church described the space using a phrase from the Orthodox Rite of Burial; “homeland of my heart’s desire.”

“Homeland of my heart’s desire.”