The 161-year-old Cathe­dral of the Im­mac­u­late Con­cep­tion will re­main closed from East­er Mon­day for an in­def­i­nite pe­ri­od to fa­cil­i­tate restora­tion work on the city land­mark. The an­nounce­ment was made in a me­dia re­lease on Mon­day. It will be the first time in decades that the Mi­nor Basil­i­ca of the Arch­dio­cese of Port-of-Spain, at the east­ern end of the Bri­an Lara Prom­e­nade, will be closed. The de­ci­sion to shut­ter the his­toric cathe­dral was based on the ad­vice of the project's en­gi­neers who re­vealed that parts of the roof were in di­lap­i­dat­ed con­di­tion.

For­mer Arch­bish­op of Port-of-Spain Ed­ward Gilbert had promised the Ro­man Catholic com­mu­ni­ty that the church would­not be closed dur­ing its ren­o­va­tion and restora­tion. How­ev­er he said then that cer­tain parts might be off lim­its while the restora­tion work pro­ceed­ed. The com­plete but tem­po­rary clo­sure of the Cathe­dral of Im­mac­u­late Con­cep­tion, Arch­bish­op Joseph Har­ris said on Mon­day, is nec­es­sary to en­sure the safe­ty of parish­ioners and vis­i­tors to the church. Arch­bish­op Har­ris said the clo­sure will al­so al­low for ac­cel­er­a­tion of work on the project.