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| Tower of the church of St. Augustine, Goa besttoursingoa.com |
During the colonial days in 1500s and 1600s when Goa, western coastal area of India, was under the Portuguese rulers, it became an important center of mercantile trades and lots of Portuguese from Portugal moved over to this place of pristine beauty and fine tropical beaches to start their lives afresh in a new environment and along with them came numerous Christian preachers who settled down there. The Christian evangelists' main vision was two fold: to build churches for the Portuguese community whose number was swelling every month and to spread the Gospel of Christ among the natives. They had a misconception at that time that the culture of natives was far inferior than theirs which subsequently in the later periods landed them in serious trouble.
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| Augustine Church webguy.in |
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| In ruins Augustine church, Goa commons.wikimedia.org |
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| Inscriptiona among ruins, Augustine church en.wikepedia.org |
Above image: Augustine Church came up in 1602 through the efforts of the Augustinian friars who arrived in Goa in 1587. Said to be an iconic structure with a fine belfry, it started slowly crumbling after this area had been finally abandoned in 1857 in the aftermath of continual series of deadly epidemics. Deserted and neglected with no maintenance, the structural stability of the church became weak along with natural weathering, causing further damages. In the first half of the twentieth century in 1931, the façade and half the bell-tower (once there were four bell towers) fell down and then few years later in 1938. Now, the church is beyond redemption. It was once considered one of the three great Augustinian churches in the Iberian world, the other two being The Basilica of the Escorial in Spain and St. Vincente de Fora in Lisbon. The massive complex had eight chapels, four altars, a convent, and four towers.Goa has numerous, impressive churches of beauty and grandeur built during the colonial periods. Many of them have survived to day, but some have crumpled ......
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| Damage Augustine Church, Goathehindu.com |
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| in ruins church of St. Augustine, Goa. augnet.org |
The Friars of Augustinian Order settled in Goa in 1572 and they had built on the holy hill a large convent - a three-story building with large stairways to reach the upper levels. The huge building included corridors, two cloisters, pillars, galleries and halls with many rooms, besides infirmary and guest house. Dormitories were also part of the building complex. It was well planned and executed building. That nothing is permanent in this world is quite true in the case of this church. All the above mentioned parts of the buildings are in ruins and restoration to its original form is very tough task.
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| St. Augustine, Goa.exoticgoa.co.in |
According to the records the church dedicated to "Our lady of Grace" was under the control of the Augustinian order till 1835. It was in 1835 the church complex with a sprawling vault - roof was marked out for demolition in the wake of expulsion of the religious orders from Goa. Between 1842-46 the church's huge vault collapsed and soon the religious articles were either sold or transferred to other places of worship. As for the huge bell from the tower, it was removed, then initially taken to Fort Aguada and later in 1871 was shifted to the Church of Our lady of Immaculate Conception in Panaji, where it can be seen (and heard) today.
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| ruins of st Augustine church augnet.org |
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, Goa, once an Iconic Structure is in ruins ){kind=link}