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123indiatravel offers you complete information on the churches of Goa and the architectural style followed in the churches of Goa |
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The churches of Goa are monuments of stone. They are of permanent interest to the historian, the archaeologist, the student of art and architecture, the tourist and indeed to every curious intellect.
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Churches glistening in the distance and soaring upwards as white objects on the most commanding spots and pointing their crosses towards heaven is a common sight in the landscape of Goa. These are the fruits of centuries of evangelisation, which bears eloquent testimony to the energy, and enthusiasm of various monastic orders established in the Old City of Goa - the first chunk of Indian Territory to fall into the hands of the new colonizers after the discovery of the sea-route to India. The alliance between the 'sword' and the 'cross' was a close one.
While the military might was being maintained in the lands and the seas, the religious policy of the state was a forward one. The state placed all its resources at the disposal of the ecclesiastical authorities. This was the golden period of Goa when the missions flourished, leading churches were built and Goa became the greatest political and ecclesiastical metropolis in Asia. It was at this glorious period that the new cathedral, also dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria, was planned on an area of 3,240 square meters, which is quite astonishing when compared to the size of the cathedrals of Portugal. Two great architects, Ambrosio Argueiro and Julio Simao, drew the majestic outline of the new project.
In an era that was seeking stability and security, the early Portuguese architecture responded with static firmness in its buildings. They extolled the values of robustness, consistency and weight.
The cathedral at Old Goa is a typical example of such architecture. The temple has a simple frontispiece of mixed Tuscan and Doric architecture, in contrast to the architectonic style of the facades of other churches. Originally, it was a twin-towered frontispiece. However, in 1776, the tower towards the north collapsed due to poor maintenance. The church has three portals and three choir windows with granite frames among colonnades in the Doric-Corinthian style. It is divided into three naves, which communicate with each other under Mosaico-Corinthian arcades with large pillars supporting the orated dome. The retable and pilasters are also carved in the Mosaico-Corinthian style. The panels depict martyrdom of St Catherine besides the sculptures of Virgin Mary, St John, the Apostle and the Holy Spirit. The temple offers a majesty and grandeur comparable to those of the cathedrals of Cracow and Nuremberg.
The Priory of Rosary, located in the Holy Mount in Old Goa (1527), was built to fulfill the wishes of Afonso de Albuquerque who was conducting the battle for the re-conquest of Goa on November 25, 1510 when he received the news of the victory over the Mohammedans. The entrance carries a portal with a Roman arcade and a ribbed vault representing the last vestiges of Gothic or rather the medieval art of the West.
The main altar, however, is housed in a structure, which shows a transition from Gothic to Renaissance as the ribs covering the vault are spread in a fan-tracery form to meet in an octogynous rosette on the vertex. The church is linked with a romantic story of the governor, Garcia de Sa (1548-49) who was in love with Catarina a Piro, a Portuguese woman of 'low extract'. After her death, St. Francis Xavier celebrated the governor's wedding by marrying them in articulo mortis. The tomb of Catarina a Piro is niched into the left wall of this Church and represents the typical art of the Gujarat School
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