Former ‘1930 prison’ design to be preserved as Catholic Church occupies premises

The Catholic Church is set to relocate its St Michel cathedral to the premises of the former Kigali Central Prison commonly known as 1930, but the church will preserve the architectural design of the prison for heritage purposes. In July 2018, the last batch of inmates from this prison relocated to the newly completed Nyarugenge prison in Mageragere sector, Nyarugenge district. This left the prime 5.5-hectare piece of land open for re-development and was later acquired by the Catholic Church to relocate its St Michel Parish. In an interview with The New Times, Marie-Solange Muhirwa, Chief Urban Planner of City of Kigali, said that part of the studies for the redevelopment of the former prison are complete but there are others still ongoing. “We are working with the Catholic Church to see what can be preserved because it's a historical site,” said Muhirwa. The former prison is one of the oldest structures in Kigali and its construction was completed in 1930 hence being dubbed 1930 Prison. The Kigali Catholic cathedral, which is also the seat of Kigali Archdiocese, is currently at St Michel Church in Kiyovu, which is old and relatively small. Although the Catholic top clergymen did not want to go on record while revealing details of the project, they confirmed to The New Times that the project is still ongoing and that there is a team established to handle the project that involves government officials. The New Times has also learnt that the architectural design of how the cathedral will look like is already complete but not yet public. The design will be one that will make the cathedral also touristic in nature. It is not yet clear when works on the former prison will begin. However, the Church had been asked to deliver a design with details on how they intend to integrate the old edifice into their works. In the ambitious City master plan, four premises including; the former Kigali Central Prison, Sainte Famille Catholic Church, and Matheus Commercial Centre were gazetted as heritage sites. As Kigali City continues to champion a rapidly developing metropolis, officials say they are mindful of structures with historical significance. The strategic property on which the prison used to sit – which is just hundreds of meters away from the epicentre of Kigali – in what is now called the Central Business District. Meanwhile, previous reports indicated that the same re-development awaits Kigali’s oldest commercial street, commonly known as Quartier Matheus, whose centrally located old buildings will be spared. Another monument that has been preserved is Sainte Famille Catholic Church, which, built in 1913, is the oldest church in Kigali.

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Former ‘1930 prison’ design to be preserved as Catholic Church occupies premises