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Christchurch, the largest town on the South Island and its economic and cultural center, lies on the east coast, not far from the Banks Peninsula, in whose natural harbor of Lyttleton the first settlers landed in the 19th C. The city extends over an almost treeless plain that is bounded on the southeast by the hills, rising to some 400 m, between the city and Lyttleton Harbour. In summer an unpleasant hot, dry wind from the northwest often blows for days at a time.

With its spacious parks, its numerous sports grounds and well-tended gardens - amounting altogether to more than 30 sq.km of green space - Christchurch has become known as the Garden City. The city's architecture and atmosphere lead many visitors to declare that it is the most British of New Zealand's towns. Its situation in an extensive plain has allowed its planners to lay it out on a rectangular grid with broad main streets. Only the winding course of the Avon River and the diagonal line of the High Street and Victoria Street disturb the regularity of its plan.

From the Canterbury Museum the second stage leads past Christ's College to Hagley Park and along Armagh Street to Cranmer Square, with two former schools, the Girls' High School and the Normal School. At the end of Chester Street is the city's oldest stone church, the Methodist Church (1864). At the south end of Durham Street, where it reaches the Avon, are the Provincial Government Buildings. On the far side of the bridge are Victoria Square and the modern Town Hall.

From Victoria Square the third stage continues along Oxford Terrace, skirting the Avon, to Madras Street, and south along this to Latimer Square. From there Worcester Street runs back to Cathedral Square.

Christchurch - Arts Centre
Near the museum are the neo-Gothic buildings (also designed by Mountfort and built from 1876 onwards) formerly occupied by Canterbury University, which were converted into the Arts Centre in the 1970s, when the University moved west to the Ilam district. The finest features are the Great Hall (1882), the central clock tower (1877) and the main entrance. At the west corner of the main block is the room in which Rutherford carried out his early physics experiments. The famous philosopher Karl Popper (1902-94) also taught here (1937-45).

The Arts Centre is home to various dramatic, ballet and musical ensembles, and almost every day there are performances of high quality. Here too there is a great variety of shops, galleries and stalls displaying and selling art and craft objects, as well as cafés and restaurants. It presents a busy and bustling scene, particularly at weekends.

Christchurch - Boating on the Avon
Visitors can see a different aspect of Christchurch from a punt on the slow River Avon. Punts can be hired at the visitor center or at the old Antigua Boatsheds in Cambridge Terrace.

Christchurch - Canterbury Museum
On the eastern edge of the Botanic Gardens, in a building of 1870 designed by Benjamin Mountfort, is the Canterbury Museum, which has a fine collection of material on the city's colonial past, as well as magnificent Maori woodcarving and objects carved from greenstone. Displays in the main hall illustrate the history of Antarctic exploration from its beginnings down to the recent past.

The first director of the museum and one of the most important collectors of material was a geologist, Julius von Haast, who had carried out extensive surveys of the South Island. He used his large collection of moa bones in exchanges with other museums to build up the Canterbury Museum.

Christchurch - Cathedral Square
The large open square in front of the Christchurch Cathedral is the hub of the city's life and for long the pride of its citizens. There was great indignation when George Bernard Shaw, visiting Christchurch in 1935, admired Petre's neoclassical Roman Catholic cathedral and dismissed the Anglican cathedral as 'too academic'.

Christchurch - Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament
The Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is the finest neo-Renaissance church in New Zealand. The cathedral (1901-05), with a high dome over the crossing, was designed by FW Petre and was much admired by George Bernard Shaw.

Christchurch - Provincial Council Buildings
The neo-Gothic Provincial Council Buildings (by Benjamin Mountfort, 1859-65) to the northeast of the cathedral, beyond the little Avon River, are among the finest buildings in the city. There was originally a wooden building centerd on a courtyard, a stone extension and tower being added later. The showpiece of the current buildings is the ornate neo-Gothic Council Chamber, with wall mosaics, stained-glass windows, massive and richly decorated barrel vaults and galleries for spectators and the press (completed in 1965). In 1924 an annex was built in Armagh Street.

Christchurch - Town Hall
Northeast of the Provincial Council Buildings, in Victoria Square, is the eye-catching modern town hall (1972). This attractive and imposing building was designed by the Christchurch architects Warren and Mahoney. Within the complex are an auditorium seating 2000 and a restaurant.

Christchurch Cathedral
The city's principal sight is the cathedral, a prominent landmark with its 65m spire. It was designed by the famous London architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. The foundation stone was laid in 1864, but only a year later the work was halted because of shortage of money and only resumed in 1873. The direction of the work was entrusted to Benjamin Mountfort, who modified Scott's plan by adding turrets, pinnacles and small balconies. The building was completed in 1904, 6 years after Mountfort's death and 40 years after the start of work - though the first services were held in the nave in 1881.

In the interior of this monumental church are a series of pictures illustrating the history of the Anglican church and its bishops in New Zealand. There is also fine stained glass. The spire has three times suffered damage in earthquakes. Visitors can climb to the viewing balconies halfway up from which there are magnificent views of the city center.

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