Churches and convents of Goa
Religious monuments in Old Goa reflecting Portuguese colonial evangelization.
The Churches and Convents of Goa is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising religious monuments in Goa Velha (Old Goa), India, inscribed in 1986. Goa served as the capital of Portuguese India and a center for evangelization from the 16th century. The site is notable for spreading Manueline, Mannerist, and Baroque art forms across Asia and for housing the tomb of Francisco Xavier in the Basilica of Bom Jesus.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Goa, India
Facts from the source article.
History
The city of Goa was founded in the fifteenth century as a port on the Mandovi river by the Muslim Sultanate of Bijapur. Afonso de Albuquerque, aided by the Goan Hindu privateer Timoja, captured it in 1510, and it remained under Portuguese rule until the twentieth century. At its peak, the city held over 200,000 inhabitants and was called the 'Rome of the East' for its many Catholic religious buildings. The first converts were native Goan women who married Portuguese men arriving with Albuquerque. During the mid-16th century, Goa became the center of Christianization in the East, with Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, and other orders using it as a base. The 16th and 17th centuries were Goa's Golden Age, marked by flourishing trade and administrative privileges similar to Lisbon's. Most churches and monasteries were built in the first two centuries of Portuguese presence, with architectural forms following European canon while interior decoration reflected local artists' work. Economic decline began in the late 17th century due to Dutch and British trade competition, epidemics, and the river becoming inadequate for modern ships. The Viceroy moved to Pangim in 1759, and Velha Goa lost its capital status in 1843. India annexed Goa in 1961, ending over 451 years of Portuguese rule.
Monuments
The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, built in 1543, is the oldest surviving church in Old Goa. Its exterior resembles a small fortress, with an entrance porch flanked by small cylindrical towers with cupolas typical of late-Gothic and Manueline Portugal. Inside, Manueline vaults are found in the chapels, and the chancel features an altarpiece dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary and a carved alabaster cenotaph in Persian or Indian style. The See of Goa, begun in 1562 under Viceroy Dom Francisco Coutinho, is the largest building built by the Portuguese in Asia, measuring 91 meters long. Its construction was slow, with the facade completed in 1631. The church has three naves of equal height in a hall-church shape, similar to other Portuguese cathedrals of the time. The severe facade has three portals and one tower, the right tower having been destroyed in a storm in 1766. The interior decoration includes a magnificent gilt altarpiece in the chancel.
Conservation and preservation
A UNESCO mission to Goa in January 1999 noted that while individual monuments were being conserved, the overall site lacked visual and spatial cohesion. Road widening, neglect of archaeological ruins, and new landscaping had enclosed monuments in garden squares unrelated to the historic urban form, undermining the site's integrity as a former port town. The central government of India, in consultation with the Catholic diocese of Old Goa, the State of Goa, the Fundação Orient, and other bodies, and in collaboration with the local Archaeological Survey of India, prepared a project proposal for urban conservation. This proposal is pending approval by the central Indian government before submission to donors. Discussions with the Portuguese Director General for National Monuments and Edifices have led to a commitment to collaborate on an inventory of the site as a first step toward a conservation management plan.
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