Church of Our Lady of the Rosary (Goa)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Church of Our Lady of the Rosary | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Church of Our Lady of the Rosary | |
| 15°25′22″N 73°46′17″E / 15.4229°N 73.7713°E | |
| Location | Old Goa, State of Goa |
| Country | India |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| History | |
| Founder | Afonso de Albuquerque |
| Architecture | |
| Architectural type | a fortress church which is cruciform on plan |
| Style | Manueline and Gothic styles |
| Years built | 1544-1547 |
| Type | Cultural |
| Designated | 1986 |
| Part of | Churches and Convents of Goa |
The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary is a Catholic church built between 1544 and 1547, in Old Goa, State of Goa, India. This church is part of the collection belonging to the World Heritage Site of churches and convents of Goa.[1][2]
According to the Portuguese historian Gaspar Correia, the Portuguese nobleman Afonso de Albuquerque ordered a small chapel to be built in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary on the spot where he was standing, when he had received the confirmation that his soldiers had completed the Portuguese conquest of Goa in 1510. The master-builder Antão Nogueira de Brito then designed a small chapel on the place, which was a hill called the Monte Santo (Holy Mountain) by the Portuguese.[2]
Over 30 years later, many Goan Catholics were living in Monte Santo and the Portuguese rulers recognized that the settlement needed a separate parish with its own church. However, there is little information about the construction of the church building, except that it began in 1543 along with two other religious buildings in the city – the Church of Our Lady of the Candles (Portuguese: Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Luz) and the Chapel of Saint Catherine (Portuguese: Capela de Santa Catarina). Thus the city of Goa, the capital of the Portuguese territory in India, initially had only three parishes and three churches.[2] A letter from the members of the chapel's confraria to King João III of Portugal in 1548 revealed that the present church building resulted from the enlargement of the original chapel.[2]
In 1843 Pangim (Nova Goa) officially became the administrative headquarters of Portuguese India, replacing the city of Goa (which then came to be known as Goa Velha).[3] Thus the importance of this particular church declined.[4] The church was renovated in 1897–1899.[4]
