Benghazi Cathedral

Benghazi Cathedral (Cattedrale di Bengasi) is a disused former Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Benghazi, Libya. It is the see of the Apostolic Vicariate of Benghazi. In 1926, the Governor of Tripolitania commissioned the construction of a cathedral for Benghazi from an engineer, Danusso. The land where the cathedral was to be built, at the heart of Italian Benghazi, was previously occupied by Arab shopkeepers, who were evicted for the construction. The cathedral was planned at the end of a piazza, adjacent to the Governor's Palace and Hotel Roma. It is arguably the most prominent Italian construction in the city, and was a centerpiece of the Italian-designed master plan for the city, which was finalized in 1929. Danusso designed the load-bearing structure, but the architects Ottavio Cabiati, Alberto Alpago-Novello, and Guido Ferrazza were brought into the project to design the building. Construction began in 1929, and work on the interior began in 1934. The cathedral opened for services in 1935, but was not consecrated until 1939. The cathedral was dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus, with secondary dedications of the to Anthony of Padua and Bernardino of Siena. Upon its construction, it was the largest church structure in Italy's colonial empire and among the largest in North Africa. The cathedral was visited by Benito Mussolini during his March 1937 visit to Libya. It was damaged when Benghazi was captured by the Wehrmacht during Operation Sonnenblume, with many of the interior fixtures being looted and the floor and doors badly damaged. In the years after King Idris took power in 1951, the Franciscans resident there made efforts to replace losses incurred during the war, but the building slowly slipped into disuse as Benghazi's Catholic population declined. After Muammar Gaddafi took power and suppressed the Libyan Church, plans were made to convert the building into a Mosque, as with the Cathedral of Tripoli, but the cathedral's position prevented worshipers from facing Mecca, and the plans were scrapped. Nevertheless, the cathedral's cross-shaped finials were replaced by crescents. The building was used as a head

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