The small Catholic church of St Barbara sits on one of the highest points above Akosombo, looking down at the dam and the Volta gorge. It was built in the 1960s for the Italian dam engineers and their families — Saint Barbara being the patron saint of artillerymen, miners, and other workers in dangerous trades — and it is one of the few Ghanaian churches with European modernist lines: a low concrete A-frame with a slender bell tower and a wall of stained glass facing the lake.
The view from the churchyard is the easiest panorama of the dam, the gorge, and the start of the lake. The road up from the town centre is short but steep; a taxi will take you up in a few minutes.