The old picture this week features the Durban Christian Centre’s Jesus Dome in Mayville which has been a feature of the skyline as you drive into Durban for the last 20 years. The old picture was taken in 2005 and posted on the site Durban Down Memory Lane recently.
The Durban Christian Centre was founded in 1980 by pastor Dr Fred Roberts and his wife Nellie. Following the charismatic revival in the 1970s, Roberts left the church after 31 years to establish one of the first interdenominational, non-racial churches in South Africa.
Initial services were in the old Alhambra Theatre but these premises became too small, so land was purchased and work began on the Jesus Dome, an impressive 5 500-seater church, and was completed in 1999.
The church was razed to the ground in a massive fire in 2016. The fire is thought to have started with an electrical fault in the massive cross on its roof which lit up the evening sky. By the time rescue and fire personnel reached the building it had already collapsed. Fortunately no one was injured in the blaze.
Construction on the new building, estimated to cost about R100 million, started in 2018.
Before construction began, two Bibles, one of which belonged to the late founder Dr Roberts, were laid in the foundations of the new building.
While the new church does not feature a domed roof, which made it such an iconic structure, it has three massive beams spanning the building, giving it a dome-like appearance.
The new building now seats 3 000 congregants. It featured prominently for its architects, EPA (Elphick Proome Architecture), in the SAISC Steel Awards of 2019, winning the innovation award, the people’s choice award and was overall winner of the steel awards.
Our photographer Shelley Kjonstad battled to match the same vantage point, shooting it from slightly further back.
The Independent on Saturday