St. John's Church and Job Charnock Mausoleum

St John's Church stands on Council House Street near BBD Bagh in central Kolkata, West Bengal, India, on land that once served as an early European burial ground. It was built between 1784 and 1787 with funds raised by lottery and was designed by Lieutenant James Agg of the Bengal Engineers, taking its Georgian and Palladian form from St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, with a classical portico, Doric columns and a tall steeple. It served as the principal church of Calcutta until St Paul's Cathedral was consecrated in 1847. Inside, the nave is lit by tall windows and holds memorials to colonial officials, along with a painting of the Last Supper by Johann Zoffany in which several well-known Calcutta residents were used as models. The churchyard contains the Job Charnock Mausoleum, an octagonal tomb dating to 1695, built of a dark stone called Pallavaram gneiss, now known as charnockite after him because the rock was first described from this stone. Charnock, an English East India Company agent, is traditionally treated as the founder of Calcutta after he settled at Sutanuti in 1690. Nearby graves include those of his wife and daughters, and a monument to the victims of the 1756 Black Hole episode once stood here before being moved. The church was repaired and restored in the 20th century and remains an active Church of North India parish, with Sunday services. The churchyard garden is quiet and maintained, and the church is a short walk from Writers' Building and the General Post Office.