Khartoum March 1884, troops loyal to the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad started a siege of Khartoum, against defenders led by British General Charles George Gordon. The siege ended in a massacre of the Anglo-Egyptian garrison when on 26 January 1885 the heavily-damaged city fell to the Mahdists. On 2 September 1898, Omdurman was the scene of the bloody Battle of Omdurman, during which British forces under Herbert Kitchener defeated the Mahdist forces defending the city. In 1973, the city was the site of an anomalous hostage crisis in which members of Black September held 10 hostages at the Saudi Arabian embassy, five
St. Matthew's Cathedral, Khartoum in the neo-Romanesque style, featuring three naves and a high tower. St. Matthew's Cathedral, Khartoum St. Matthew's Cathedral is a Christian religious building in Khartoum, which is the capital of Khartoum State and Sudan. The cathedral is located on the bank of the Blue Nile, next to the Mac Nimir Bridge. It is the seat of the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Khartoum, under the patronage of Saint Matthew the Apostle. This building almost resembles a fairy-tale castle with its various turrets, slender spires and a large rose window. The Apostolic Vicariate of Sudan or Central-Africa was erected here in