Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Anse la Raye, St. Lucia - Victorian Style Architecture on Waymarking.com

Anse la Raye is a small fishing village in the west coast of St. Lucia, south of the capital of Castries. For such a small village, the population of the entire area is about 6,300, there is a very large Romanesque style church with and impressively large painted wooden crucifix at the entrance to the church.

The Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary started as a wooden structure in 1762. The structure was destroyed in a hurricane in 1780 and once again destroyed by fire. In 1907 construction of the present Romanesque Revival style church started with the villagers donating their labor and providing the stone used. The building replacing a series of chapels on this site dating back to 1765. The cruciform shaped church is 160' long by 94' at its widest points at the transept.

The main block of the church has a central entrance framed buy a Romanesque arch which is inscribed CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. Two other arched entrances flank the central entrance. On the second level there are a series of 8 arched openings filled with a grid of circles. The gable peak has a circular window and is topped by a four lobed cross. The west side of the church has a subsequently added bell tower with louvered window. The sides of the church are have rounded clerertory windows, a slanted red tile roof, and six bays with arched windows before the transept.

In addition to the large statue of Jesus on the Cross at the front entrance, and statue of Mary over the entrance. The interior of the church has wooden pillars and a dark wood ceiling.