Rubaga Cathedral Uganda Rubaga Cathedral

Saint Mary’s Rubaga Cathedral, commonly referred to as Rubaga (Lubaga) Cathedral; is the parent cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kampala; the oldest Roman Catholic diocese in Uganda. It is also the home church of the catholic Archbishop of Kampala.

The cathedral is perched high on Lubaga Hill, in Lubaga Division, in the western part of the city of Kampala, the capital of Uganda and the largest city in this East African country. Lubaga is approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi), by road, west of the central business district of Kampala. Its coordinates are:0°18’09.0″N, 32°33’08.0″E (Latitude:0.302500; Longitude:32.552222).

Kabaka Mutesa I Mukaabya Walugembe, the 30th Kabaka of Buganda, who reigned from 1856 until 1884, once maintained a palace on Lubaga Hill. So, when fire destroyed the palace, he abandoned the hill and relocated to Mengo Hill. In 1889, his son Mwanga II of Buganda, donated that land to the French Catholic missionaries (White Fathers). These were setting up the nascent Catholic church in the country, at that time. Then in 1914 the missionaries began constructing a modern one at Lubaga (Rubaga). Construction was finally completed in 1925 and it was consecrated on 31 December 1925.

It’s also known as the sacred heart with a splendor and awesome metropolitan seat of the Archbishop of Kampala, attractive with wowing beautiful looking carpet and the LCD streaming screen, beautiful architecture wondering on the Romanesque era with magnificent piers and beautiful statue of the biblical Jesus Christ, mother Mary and Joseph curved in stylish windows strewn with amazing colour, rich painting of the beautiful catholic saints and the surperb and amazing upholstery mosaics, leaving a visitor with a long lasting memory drawing back millions and millions of visitors every year to this great magnificent ancient architecture.

They do not only host the cathedral but also a number of important institutions like the Rubaga hospital one of the five major traditional hospitals, a nursing school and a leadership training institute, the pope Paul memorial hotel and conference centre and a number of catholic projects’ head offices. Every Sunday thousands of catholic believers flock the cathedral for mass and special prayers.