Cathedral of St. John the Divine

The twin baroque towers of St. John's Cathedral dominate the city skyline and are visible from almost anywhere in town. The current structure, consecrated in 1847, replaced two earlier churches destroyed by an earthquake in 1843. It is the seat of the Anglican Diocese of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba.

The interior is extraordinary — entirely sheathed in pitch pine, from floor to vaulted ceiling. This unusual lining was specified to resist earthquake and hurricane damage, and it gives the space a warm, amber light quite unlike any other Caribbean church. At the south gate, two stone figures of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Divine were originally captured from a French warship during the 18th-century wars.

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The cathedral's interior is lined entirely with pitch pine — a deliberate engineering decision after earlier structures were destroyed by earthquakes and hurricanes. The timber lining acts as a shock absorber, and though it makes the interior unusually warm, it has kept the building standing through centuries of Caribbean storms.