Adelaide is celebrated for a cityscape that honors its history while embracing the future, featuring a rich variety of 20th-century architecture, from Inter-War and Modernist to Brutalist styles. These buildings reflect not only the city’s growth but also its spirit of architectural innovation.
One standout example is the Greek Orthodox Church of Archangels Michael and Gabriel, also known as the Cathedral of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, located on Franklin Street. Erected in 1966, the church is significant as the principal place of worship for Adelaide’s Greek community and as a prominent symbol of non-British migration to Australia.
The design is a modern interpretation of Byzantine architecture, reflecting the community’s commitment to preserving Greek culture in Australia. Architects Stanley Psaltis, Hercules Tsakalidis, Michael Beltos, and John Lentakis incorporated traditional Byzantine motifs, including domes, arches, and circular layouts, while adapting them to modern construction techniques and materials. Their goal was a church that was “…more elegant, more dominant, and more attuned to the needs of the community’s members.”
The church stands on the site of the Adelaide Greek Community’s first church, a Mediterranean-style building constructed in 1937 by Gordon Beaumont Smith. The current round-shaped church is built of reinforced concrete, brick, and steel, featuring a copper-clad domed roof, and makes a positive contribution to the streetscape through its scale, distinctive split ‘rotunda’ design, and freestanding bell tower.
The interior features a circular gallery and an arc-shaped sanctuary, both decorated with icons painted over a two-year period by Athanasious Vardatsikos, which adds to its spiritual and artistic significance. The 65-foot (≈20m) brick-and-steel bell tower, topped with a 10-foot (≈3m) bronze cross, has punched slot and square openings reminiscent of Le Corbusier’s Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut in France, highlighting the church’s modernist influences.
Overall, the Church of Archangels Michael and Gabriel stands as both an architectural landmark and a cultural testament to Adelaide’s Greek community, symbolizing faith, migration, and the cultivation of Greek heritage in Australia.
Learn more about this heritage-listed place: https://brnw.ch/21wWaF8
Discover the Modern Marvels Self-Guided Trail: https://brnw.ch/21wWaF7
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