Manyangwa’s three gems all centre around Kaggwa
11th March 2005
The three gems at Manyangwa are: the All Saints Church, built in 1903, the mausoleum with graves of Sir Apollo Kaggwa and his wife Lady Samali and Sir Apollo’s 16-room house with brick pillars.
By Craddock Williams
The three gems at Manyangwa are: the All Saints Church, built in 1903, the mausoleum with graves of Sir Apollo Kaggwa and his wife Lady Samali and Sir Apollo’s 16-room house with brick pillars.
Sir Apollo Kaggwa KCMG, MBE, SSM (1855-1927) was the Katikkiro of Buganda and regent of Kabaka Chwa. He was honoured by the British government as KCMG (Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George), MBE (Member of the British Empire) and SSM (No one we met knew what it meant.)
Kaggwa’s great-grand-daughter Florence Nakimera showed our group round the house.
All the brick pillars, save for one, appear solid. It would only take the collapse of one pillar to damage the roof. The foundation has been weakened. Urgent repair work is needed to save this building, says Remigious Kigongo Mugerwa, a conservator in the department of antiquities and museums of Buganda.
No less urgent is some weatherproof rendering to protect the sun-dried bricks of which the walls of the church were built. The iron roof has preserved the timber from the wet rot, a danger with many of Buganda’s tribal buildings.
If rain continues to erode the walls, the church will be lost. With its splendid arches, this is a church worth saving.
Holding repairs can be made at a very low cost of less than sh100,000 by local workmen.
The Historic Buildings Conservation Group meets anyone interested in saving Uganda’s heritage on the first Thursday of each month at 5.30 p.m, at the National Museum on Kira Road, Kampala.
The three gems at Manyangwa are: the All Saints Church, built in 1903, the mausoleum with graves of Sir Apollo Kaggwa and his wife Lady Samali and Sir Apollo’s 16-room house with brick pillars.
Sir Apollo Kaggwa KCMG, MBE, SSM (1855-1927) was the Katikkiro of Buganda and regent of Kabaka Chwa. He was honoured by the British government as KCMG (Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George), MBE (Member of the British Empire) and SSM (No one we met knew what it meant.)
Kaggwa’s great-grand-daughter Florence Nakimera showed our group round the house.
All the brick pillars, save for one, appear solid. It would only take the collapse of one pillar to damage the roof. The foundation has been weakened. Urgent repair work is needed to save this building, says Remigious Kigongo Mugerwa, a conservator in the department of antiquities and museums of Buganda.
No less urgent is some weatherproof rendering to protect the sun-dried bricks of which the walls of the church were built. The iron roof has preserved the timber from the wet rot, a danger with many of Buganda’s tribal buildings.
If rain continues to erode the walls, the church will be lost. With its splendid arches, this is a church worth saving.
Holding repairs can be made at a very low cost of less than sh100,000 by local workmen.
The Historic Buildings Conservation Group meets anyone interested in saving Uganda’s heritage on the first Thursday of each month at 5.30 p.m, at the National Museum on Kira Road, Kampala.