Johannesburg's diverse communities are reflected in the wide variety of places of worship found throughout the city. Find out more about the history, architecture and social role of these places of sanctuary in this, the first of a series of articles.

THE city has many places of worship, a reflection of the multi-cultural nature of Johannesburg.

Almost every religion is represented and practised in some of the country's most beautiful structures.

Some churches, like Regina Mundi in Soweto, played a significant role in the struggle to overcome apartheid, and have taken on iconic status. Tourists come from all over the world to visit this famous church.

Some former churches have been reborn as mosques or temples, and serve a whole new community within the suburbs.

And some churches have no walls and roofs, and simply take place in the veld, where the sounds of enthusiastic worshippers echo across the parks and streams where they gather.

New mosques have sprung up in former whites-only suburbs, an indication of apartheid's barriers dissolving and people settling in places that feel comfortable and friendly.

Some places of worship stand out because of their architecture, their history, their associations, or just their splendour.

St Mary's the Less, Jeppestown, 1889
This Anglican church is the oldest place of worship in the city, having been built just three years after gold was discovered in Johannesburg in 1886.

When the early settlers moved west and east of the town centre, Jeppestown, along with Doornfontein and Belgravia, a one or two kilometres east of the town centre, became the posh suburbs where the Randlords built their mansions.

St Mary's the Less stands out among the light industrial buildings in Jeppestown

And with the growth of the suburbs, the need for a church arose, and St Mary's the Less was built.

It is a modest red iron-roofed structure with a wooden-beamed ceiling and wooden floors, and filled with rows of white-painted wooden benches. The walls of the apse are painted sky blue, with four beautiful arched stained-glass windows, contrasting the plain arched windows running down each side.

Its small pipe organ still stands to the right of the apse.

A worn stone step in Park Street is testimony to the church's age, now standing bravely among untidy light-industrial buildings and rundown residential blocks in a suburb that takes its name from Sir Julius Jeppe.

Jeppe was a wealthy landowner who established the neighbouring suburb of Belgravia.

The church's congregation has dwindled to around 45 – the church seats 120 – and they are the old faithfuls who come from far and wide to enjoy the slightly musty, quiet ambience of the church and its Sunday service.

Father Andrew Payne, who comes to Jeppestown to deliver the Sunday service, says the future of the church is unknown - he is working on methods of recruiting more members.

The church was designed by Arthur and Walter Reid, and additions were made in 1897, 1904 and 1908. It's believed that when St Mary's Cathedral was built in the inner city in 1929, St Mary's bowed to its superior status, and became St Mary's the Less.

There is another St Mary's church in Johannesburg: St Mary's on the Limpopo, which stands quietly on the corner of Empire and Clarendon streets on the edge of Parktown. It was previously the Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin but in 1982, in recognition of the fact that the Braamfontein Spruit runs under the church on its way to the Limpopo River, its name was changed.

Regina Mundi Catholic Church, Soweto, 1964
One of Soweto's most distinctive landmarks, the Regina Mundi Catholic Church, for the past 40 years, has quietly offered comfort to those seeking higher redemption but also to those simply seeking refuge from the physical might of the apartheid forces.

A distinctive landmark in Soweto, visited by 200 tourists each day

Built in 1964 in Moroka as a long A-framed building, the church still bears the scars of the turbulent 1970s and 1980s on its walls.

The church was a meeting place for activists deprived of any other place to meet.

It played a role in Soweto's most significant day – 16 June 1976 – when students, revolting against the imposition of Afrikaans teaching by the apartheid government, ran into the church. They were followed by police, who shot and injured many, firing teargas and damaging the marble altar and the figure of Christ, leaving bullet holes in the ceiling.

Since 1976 the church has held annual commemorative services every 16 June, with 12 000 turning up for the first anniversary in 1977.

Striking A-framed ceiling of the Regina Mundi Church, with light flooding the spacious interior

In 1995 efforts were made to restore the church, damaged during the years of confrontations between Sowetans and the police. The Save Regina Mundi campaign was launched to raise funds for repairs and some R1,5-million was eventually collected and restorations made.

Its spacious interior offers a calm retreat, with its white A-frame triple-volume ceiling elevating the spirit. The blue and mustard glass windows running down both sides of the building soften the light, while the plain brick walls provide a contrast.

The church seats 2 000 people, with standing room for another 3 000.

To the left of the altar is a beautiful stained glass window, depicting the four stages of Mary's life. It was donated to the church in 1998 by the Polish first lady, Jolanta Kwasniewska, and provides a perfect juxtaposition to the black Madonna that hangs on the opposite wall.

The church is as popular as ever, with over 1 000 families under the pastoral care of Father Vusi Mazibuko, the resident minister.

There are 18 Roman Catholic churches in Soweto but Regina Mundi is particularly popular. Up to 200 tourists visit the building each day, taking in a tour by one of two guides permanently stationed at the church.

Regina Mundi means 'queen of the world' in Latin, an appropriate title for the church that has gathered her subjects protectively to her bosom in the past, and continues to do so today.

The Lions Shul, Doornfontein, 1906
The Lions Shul in Beit Street is the only active synagogue in Doornfontein. There were originally seven shuls in the suburb, which was originally a vibrant Jewish area of the burgeoning mining town.

Imposing entrance to the Lions Shul, with one of the two lions guarding the entrance

It's a charming, understated but striking building, on a much smaller scale than its neighbour down the road, the former, magnificent Great Synagogue.

The Lions Shul gets its name from the two impressive gold-painted cast iron lions at its entrance.

It has a homely, cosy atmosphere inside, painted in restful pale yellow and white, offset by dark wooden pews. A rich red carpet runs down the centre, and there are three small shallow glass domes in the ceiling. The wooden women's gallery around three sides of the building adds to its cosiness.

Above the bimah, or pulpit, is a beautiful arched stained glass window portraying the 10 Commandments in Hebrew.

Beit Street used to be the commercial hub of this former Jewish suburb, crowded with kosher butcheries, shoemakers, tailors, blacksmiths, carpenters and barbers. In the early days the suburb was a vibrant part of the town, crosscut by bicycles, horses and carts and trams. Hawkers and pedlars crowded the pavements, offering live chickens, eggs, ice and coal for sale.

Those still coming to the shul remember the suburb with much affection, probably because everyone started off on the same footing: as immigrants in a modern city, struggling to find their place and make things work for themselves and their families. And all immigrants knew that when they arrived in Johannesburg, they had to make their way to Doornfontein.

Rabbi Ilan Herrmann conducts services at the shul three times a week. His largest congregation is around 60 on a Saturday morning. The shul seats about 350. He says congregants come from the northern suburbs, mostly Sandton, Morningside and Highlands North.

On high holidays up to 200 attend the services. He says the larger numbers are probably for nostalgic reasons, but also for reasons of tradition – the families have always come to the Lions Shul for special services.

Many fourth-generation Jews attend services at the shul. Their great-great grandparents were mostly from Lithuania.

Herrmann has been rabbi at the shul for the past eight years and says attendance has remained more or less static

He says that most people are apprehensive about security in the rather rundown surrounds of Doornfontein, although the shul itself has not been burgled in 20 years.

A fire destroyed much of the shul in 1932 but it was almost completely rebuilt, with changes to the entrance, and the removal of the minarets.

When asked about the origin of the lions at the entrance to the shul, Herrmann speculates that it might be a reference to one of the 12 Yehudah or Judah tribes, which had the lion as its symbol.

The Lions Shul is a gentle reminder of hard but good times in a suburb that nurtured many talented and able people.

Places of worship

• Temple Israel, Hillbrow, 1936
• St Alban's Anglican Mission Church, Ferreirasdorp, 1928
• Johannesburg Melrose Shree Siva Subramaniar Temple, Abbotsford, 1996
• Coptic Orthodox Church, Parkview, 1999
• ZCC Church, Alexandra
• Dutch Reformed Church, Fairview, 1906
• Mosque, Kerk Street, mid-1990s
• Church of Latter Day Saints, Parktown 1985
• Grace Bible Church, Pimville, 2002
• Our Lady of the Cedars of Lebanon, Woodmead, 1991
• Greek Orthodox Church, Hillbrow, 1912
• Dutch Reformed Church, Cottesloe, 1935
• Christ the King Anglican Church, Sophiatown, 1935
• St Mary's Cathedral, inner city, 1929
• Swaminarayan Mandir, Lenasia, 2004
• St Mary's the Less, Jeppestown, 1889
• Regina Mundi Catholic Church, Soweto, 1964
• The Lions Shul, Doornfontein, 1906
• Mosques, Vrededorp, 1930s
• St Anthony's, Crown Mines, 1976
• St Peter's Priory, Rosettenville, 1903