Roots EarthAll cities

New Zealand · Oceania

Roots Earth in Christchurch: audio stories about 42 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 42 places in Christchurch, New Zealand, in Oceania. The Christchurch stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Christchurch, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 42 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: christchurch.md

The 42 places in Christchurch with audio stories

In the order the app shows them.

  1. ChristChurch Cathedral
  2. Cathedral Square
  3. Canterbury Museum
  4. Christchurch Botanic Gardens
  5. Christchurch Art Gallery
  6. Christchurch Arts Centre
  7. Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings
  8. Hagley Park
  9. Bridge of Remembrance
  10. Cardboard Cathedral
  11. Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial
  12. Christ's College
  13. Christchurch Town Hall
  14. Victoria Square
  15. New Regent Street
  16. Christchurch Tram
  17. Te Pae
  18. Statue of Robert Falcon Scott
  19. Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament
  20. Avon River / Otakaro
  21. Church of St Michael and All Angels
  22. Christchurch Casino
  23. Hagley Oval
  24. Christchurch Gondola
  25. Port Hills
  26. Cathedral Grammar School
  27. Barbadoes Street Cemetery
  28. Riverside Market
  29. St Luke's Church
  30. Riccarton House and Bush
  31. Mona Vale
  32. Merivale
  33. Sumner
  34. New Brighton
  35. Lyttelton
  36. Cashmere
  37. Sydenham
  38. Addington
  39. Taylors Mistake
  40. Ferrymead Heritage Park
  41. Victoria Park
  42. Godley Head

Is there an audio guide for ChristChurch Cathedral?

Yes. ChristChurch Cathedral has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 42 Christchurch places in the app, at -43.531, 172.637. Every one of the other 41 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Christchurch

Open Roots Earth and choose Christchurch. The city has its own map of places with all 42 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 42 places in Christchurch, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 42 places in Christchurch, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. ChristChurch Cathedral

Coordinates
-43.531, 172.637
In one line
A Gothic Revival Anglican cathedral begun in 1864 and finished in 1904, designed by George Gilbert Scott with Benjamin Mountfort. Its spire fell in the 2011 earthquake, and a slow reinstatement is now underway.

2. Cathedral Square

Coordinates
-43.53083333, 172.63638889
In one line
The civic heart of Christchurch, laid out in the 1850s at the crossing of Colombo and Worcester Streets. The damaged cathedral, the silver Chalice sculpture, and the post-earthquake rebuild all converge in this open public space.

3. Canterbury Museum

Coordinates
-43.5309, 172.6271
In one line
Founded in 1867 with a Gothic Revival building from 1870 by Benjamin Mountfort, this museum holds celebrated Antarctic exploration collections and over two million objects, from a blue whale skeleton to the beloved Paua Shell House.

4. Christchurch Botanic Gardens

Coordinates
-43.53, 172.62
In one line
Founded in 1863 within Hagley Park beside the Avon, these Victorian gardens began with an oak planted for a royal wedding. Across 21 hectares they hold magnificent mature trees, a celebrated rose garden, and the Cuningham House conservatory.

6. Christchurch Arts Centre

Coordinates
-43.53148056, 172.62823333
In one line
Built over many decades beginning in 1877 for Canterbury College, this Gothic Revival complex is New Zealand's largest cluster of heritage buildings. Once the workplace of Ernest Rutherford, it has been painstakingly restored after the 2011 earthquake.

7. Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings

Coordinates
-43.5292, 172.634
In one line
Built between 1858 and 1865 in High Victorian Gothic by Benjamin Mountfort, these are the only purpose-built provincial government buildings still standing in New Zealand. Their celebrated stone council chamber collapsed in the 2011 earthquake.

8. Hagley Park

Coordinates
-43.53, 172.62
In one line
Hagley Park is Christchurch's vast Victorian green lung, set aside in 1855 and reserved forever as a public park. Spanning roughly 165 hectares of lawns, oak avenues and the winding Avon River, it cradles the Botanic Gardens at its heart.

9. Bridge of Remembrance

Coordinates
-43.5331, 172.6334
In one line
The Bridge of Remembrance is a stone triumphal arch raised over the Avon River between 1923 and 1924 to honour Canterbury's First World War dead. Designed by William Gummer, it was carefully restored after the earthquakes and rededicated in 2016.

10. Cardboard Cathedral

Coordinates
-43.53225, 172.64286111
In one line
The Cardboard Cathedral is a striking A-frame church built from 96 giant cardboard tubes, designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and opened in 2013. It served as a transitional cathedral after the 2011 earthquake wrecked the city's stone original.

11. Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial

Coordinates
-43.53455, 172.63149
In one line
The Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial, known as Oi Manawa, is a riverside wall of marble naming the 185 people killed in the February 2011 earthquake.

12. Christ's College

Coordinates
-43.52972222, 172.62583333
In one line
Christ's College is one of New Zealand's oldest schools, founded in 1850, its Gothic Revival stone halls and chapel gathered around a quiet quadrangle beside Hagley Park. Big School, dating from 1863, is the oldest educational building still in use in the country.

13. Christchurch Town Hall

Coordinates
-43.52695, 172.63549444
In one line
Christchurch Town Hall is a modernist landmark opened in 1972, designed by Warren and Mahoney and famed worldwide for the acoustics of its elliptical concert auditorium. Damaged by the earthquakes, it was restored and reopened in 2019.

14. Victoria Square

Coordinates
-43.52777778, 172.63527778
In one line
Victoria Square is a green civic space on the Avon, the city's original market place, renamed for Queen Victoria in 1903. It holds the floodlit Bowker Fountain, statues of Queen Victoria and Captain Cook, and New Zealand's oldest cast-iron bridge.

15. New Regent Street

Coordinates
-43.52926389, 172.63871944
In one line
A pastel-fronted Spanish Mission shopping street built in 1932, often called New Zealand's first planned retail precinct. Restored after the earthquakes, its 40 facades now frame cafes, galleries, and the heritage tram.

16. Christchurch Tram

Coordinates
-43.53083, 172.63639
In one line
Restored vintage trams running a central-city loop since 1995, reviving a network that first opened in 1880. Polished wooden cars carry visitors past landmarks while conductors narrate the route through the rebuilt heart of Christchurch.

17. Te Pae

Coordinates
-43.5279, 172.6359
In one line
Christchurch's flagship convention centre, opened in 2021 on the Avon River. A 450-million-dollar landmark of the post-earthquake rebuild, its flowing facade of 43,000 tiles evokes the braided rivers of the Canterbury Plains.

18. Statue of Robert Falcon Scott

Coordinates
-43.5312, 172.63361
In one line
A white marble statue of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, carved by his widow Kathleen Scott and unveiled in 1917. Standing beside the Avon River, it honors the explorer whose expeditions sailed from nearby Lyttelton.

19. Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament

Coordinates
-43.5383, 172.646
In one line
A grand Catholic cathedral built from 1901 to 1905 by architect Francis Petre in Renaissance Revival style, once crowned by a copper dome. Heavily damaged in the 2011 earthquake, the limestone landmark was later demolished.

20. Avon River / Otakaro

Coordinates
-43.528, 172.726
In one line
A gentle 14-kilometre river winding through central Christchurch, known by its Maori name Otakaro, meaning place to play. Lined with willows and famous for punting, it shaped the city's gardens and its earthquake rebuild.

21. Church of St Michael and All Angels

Coordinates
-43.53444444, 172.63305556
In one line
A timber Gothic Revival church opened in 1872, among the largest wooden churches of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Built of matai timber after earlier quakes, it survived the 2011 earthquakes almost unscathed.

22. Christchurch Casino

Coordinates
-43.52583333, 172.63305556
In one line
Opened in 1994 on Victoria Street, the Christchurch Casino was New Zealand's first legal casino. Its gaming floor holds hundreds of machines and dozens of tables, anchoring a lively corner of the central city.

23. Hagley Oval

Coordinates
-43.534, 172.619
In one line
Set within Hagley Park, Hagley Oval is Christchurch's international cricket ground. It hosted New Zealand's opening match of the 2015 World Cup and keeps a timber pavilion from 1864, among the oldest cricket pavilions in the country.

24. Christchurch Gondola

Coordinates
-43.585, 172.70805556
In one line
Opened in 1992, the Christchurch Gondola climbs Mount Cavendish in the Port Hills to a summit 445 metres above the sea. From the top, visitors take in the city, Lyttelton Harbour and the Southern Alps beyond.

25. Port Hills

Coordinates
-43.59, 172.69
In one line
The Port Hills are the eroded rim of an ancient volcano, rising between Christchurch and Lyttelton Harbour. Their summits, walking tracks and the scenic Summit Road give the city its dramatic southern skyline and sweeping coastal views.

26. Cathedral Grammar School

Coordinates
-43.5279, 172.629
In one line
Founded in 1881 to educate the cathedral's choristers, Cathedral Grammar School sits near Hagley Park. It belongs to the worldwide Choir Schools Association and keeps a heritage building, Inveresk, dating from the 1860s and 1870s.

27. Barbadoes Street Cemetery

Coordinates
-43.5243, 172.6455
In one line
Established in 1851, Barbadoes Street Cemetery is one of Christchurch's oldest burial grounds. Its Anglican, Catholic and dissenters' sections hold early settlers, bishops, mayors and members of parliament beneath weathered headstones and obelisks.

28. Riverside Market

Coordinates
-43.53257778, 172.63741389
In one line
Opened in 2019 near the Avon River, Riverside Market is a bustling food hall of around 100 local traders. Fresh produce, butchers, bakers and eateries fill a hall built partly from timber salvaged from the Lyttelton wharf.

29. St Luke's Church

Coordinates
-43.5261, 172.6401
In one line
Saint Luke's Church was a Gothic Revival Anglican church at the corner of Kilmore and Manchester Streets, designed by Cyril Mountfort and consecrated in 1909. Badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake, it was demolished, though its surviving vicarage still stands nearby.

30. Riccarton House and Bush

Coordinates
-43.52658, 172.59783
In one line
Riccarton House is the grand Victorian and Edwardian home of the pioneering Deans family, built in stages from 1856. Beside it stands Riccarton Bush, a rare surviving remnant of ancient kahikatea forest. Both passed to public ownership in 1947 and now welcome visitors.

31. Mona Vale

Coordinates
-43.52330278, 172.60851944
In one line
Mona Vale is an elegant homestead and riverside garden estate built in 1899 and 1900 by architect Joseph Maddison. Set on the Avon River, its four hectares of lawns, fernery, and rose garden became a public park in 1969.

32. Merivale

Coordinates
-43.517031, 172.616522
In one line
Merivale is a leafy, affluent Christchurch suburb just north of the centre, named after Charlotte Jackson's farm of 1851. Known for its tree-lined streets, restored cottages, and busy shopping strip along Papanui Road, it blends Victorian character with one of the city's liveliest cafe scenes.

33. Sumner

Coordinates
-43.57144, 172.76447
In one line
Sumner is a seaside suburb on Christchurch's eastern coast, surveyed and named in 1849 after the Archbishop of Canterbury. Famous for Cave Rock, its sandy surf beach, and volcanic cliffs, it grew into a popular and relaxed beach resort.

34. New Brighton

Coordinates
-43.508, 172.726
In one line
New Brighton is a seaside suburb on Christchurch's east coast, named in 1860 after Brighton in England. Its landmark pier, first opened in 1894 and rebuilt in 1997, reaches far over Pegasus Bay. Once famous for Saturday shopping, it is now a renewing beachside community.

35. Lyttelton

Coordinates
-43.6, 172.72
In one line
Lyttelton is the historic port town serving Christchurch, set in a volcanic harbour over the Port Hills. Landing place of the First Four Ships in 1850 and departure point for Antarctic expeditions, it remains a characterful working port and creative community.

36. Cashmere

Coordinates
-43.572751, 172.6311
In one line
Cashmere is a leafy hillside suburb rising on the northern slopes of the Port Hills above Christchurch.

37. Sydenham

Coordinates
-43.55, 172.63333333
In one line
Sydenham is an inner working-class suburb just south of central Christchurch, strung along Colombo Street. Once New Zealand's largest borough, it grew on industry and trade before merging with the city in 1903.

38. Addington

Coordinates
-43.545, 172.609
In one line
Addington is a southwest Christchurch suburb built on railways, racing and trade. Home to the famous trotting raceway, vast former rail workshops and a historic prison, it remains a busy, diverse industrial and entertainment district.

39. Taylors Mistake

Coordinates
-43.5833, 172.7755
In one line
Taylors Mistake is a rugged surf beach at Christchurch's southeastern edge, named for an early settler's navigational error. Backed by cliffs, century-old holiday baches and rare cave dwellings, it draws swimmers, surfers and coastal walkers.

40. Ferrymead Heritage Park

Coordinates
-43.56728611, 172.7022
In one line
Ferrymead Heritage Park is a living outdoor museum in Christchurch, recreating an Edwardian village beside the site of New Zealand's first public railway. Vintage trains, trams and working exhibits are run by volunteer societies.

41. Victoria Park

Coordinates
-43.5896, 172.6437
In one line
Victoria Park is a sprawling reserve on the Port Hills above Christchurch, opened in 1897 for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Its forests, gardens and tracks draw walkers and mountain bikers, with sweeping views over the city.

42. Godley Head

Coordinates
-43.5875, 172.805
In one line
Godley Head guards the entrance to Lyttelton Harbour at the eastern tip of the Port Hills. Its windswept slopes hold a 1939 coastal defence battery, a historic lighthouse and cliff-top walking tracks above the open Pacific.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

  • No account
  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app.