St Mary's Church

Kotgarh is about 80 km from Shimla on the old Hindustan-Tibet Road. Church Missionary Society from London established St Mary’s Church here, way back in 1872, when Kotgarh was a part of the Punjab province. It is a quaint little church in yellow surrounded by hills and winding roads leading to it. You can see a hint of gothic architecture even in the simplest possible exteriors of the church. The old structure exuberates the old world charm from every part of it, be it the stained glass panel with Christ on it, stone and wood structure like every other old building here, tablets announcing information, wooden benches for devotees to pray or an old bell hidden in a bell tower above the entrance of the church. There is even an inscription in Urdu hanging on the walls of the church along with a hand drawn colourful map of the region. The church comes alive on a Sunday morning when a mass happens around 11 am. People come all dressed up for the mass and read from a Bible written in Hindi. A very few people attend it as the Christian population is not very high here. There is an old school by the side of the church that was also built at the same time as church.