OLD GOA, GOA, INDIA
Today I took a local bus ten kilometers east of Panaji to the former capital of the state, the Portuguese city of Old Goa. Incredibly, four hundred years ago it was a metropolis of over 200,000 people, said to rival Lisbon. Times have changed, though--the city was abandoned several hundred years ago following plagues and political problems, and the capital moved down the road to Panaji. Now all that's left are a handful of historic churches and cathedrals, but at least they're interesting ones. The whole town has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Like Panaji, Old Goa is surrounded by tropical vegetation, and most of the churches are scattered around a city square with wide lawns and gardens. It's a really attractive setting, and a nice place to walk around. As far as churches go, I have to admit I don't really know my Dominican from my Franciscan from my Jesuit, but I think saw 'em all today! There was the huge Se Cathedral (1562), the largest church in the city and the seat of the Archbishop of Goa, the smaller Church of St. Francis of Assisi (1661) next door, and down the street, the Church and Convent of St. Monica (1627), the largest nunnery in India. Inside the convent is a two-story Museum of Christian Art, which was full of artifacts and sculptures of saints and such collected from various Goan churches. I thought it was interesting to see that many of the Christian figures were carved by local Hindu artists.
My two favorite churches of Old Goa, though, were the Church of St. Augustine (1602) and the Basilica of Bom Jesus (1627). Actually, St. Augustine is nothing more than ruins, as it was abandoned in 1835, and the vault collapsed soon after. All that's left now are half of the bell tower and some other remnants of the original structure, but it was cool to climb over the moss-covered ruins and see some of the remaining features, including marble inscriptions carved into the floor and walls. I was the only one there, too, so I had the whole place to explore by myself.
The Basilica of Bom Jesus was intriguing, too, but for a different reason--it's famous throughout the Roman Catholic world for containing the remains of St. Francis Xavier, Goa's patron saint, who in the mid-16th Century went on legendary missionary voyages throughout Asia. When he died (or so the story goes), inexplicably his body didn't decompose, despite being doused with quicklime. The church later declared his "incorruptible" body to be a miracle, and put it on display here at the Basilica in a silver casket with glass windows. Over the centuries various parts of his body were lopped off and scattered throughout Asia as holy relics, but most of his corpse is still here on display. Apparently every ten years they take him out and parade him around, but the last time was in 2004, so today I had to be content with viewing him through his glass case. I have to say after all these years he looks a little...er...dry, but all in all not in too bad shape if indeed he truly wasn't embalmed. Kind of freaky, though. Adding to the strangeness, there's a modern art gallery upstairs in the church featuring large paintings depicting St. Francis' missionary work. The paintings get more and more surreal, though, and by the end of the exhibit, they're bizarre Dali-esque works with all kinds of grotesque distortions. Very trippy!
Later I couldn't resist returning to A Ferradura for some more Portuguese-influenced Goan cuisine--tonight I tried the feijoada, a spicy stew made with pork and beans, which was really good.
Today I took a local bus ten kilometers east of Panaji to the former capital of the state, the Portuguese city of Old Goa. Incredibly, four hundred years ago it was a metropolis of over 200,000 people, said to rival Lisbon. Times have changed, though--the city was abandoned several hundred years ago following plagues and political problems, and the capital moved down the road to Panaji. Now all that's left are a handful of historic churches and cathedrals, but at least they're interesting ones. The whole town has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Like Panaji, Old Goa is surrounded by tropical vegetation, and most of the churches are scattered around a city square with wide lawns and gardens. It's a really attractive setting, and a nice place to walk around. As far as churches go, I have to admit I don't really know my Dominican from my Franciscan from my Jesuit, but I think saw 'em all today! There was the huge Se Cathedral (1562), the largest church in the city and the seat of the Archbishop of Goa, the smaller Church of St. Francis of Assisi (1661) next door, and down the street, the Church and Convent of St. Monica (1627), the largest nunnery in India. Inside the convent is a two-story Museum of Christian Art, which was full of artifacts and sculptures of saints and such collected from various Goan churches. I thought it was interesting to see that many of the Christian figures were carved by local Hindu artists.
My two favorite churches of Old Goa, though, were the Church of St. Augustine (1602) and the Basilica of Bom Jesus (1627). Actually, St. Augustine is nothing more than ruins, as it was abandoned in 1835, and the vault collapsed soon after. All that's left now are half of the bell tower and some other remnants of the original structure, but it was cool to climb over the moss-covered ruins and see some of the remaining features, including marble inscriptions carved into the floor and walls. I was the only one there, too, so I had the whole place to explore by myself.
The Basilica of Bom Jesus was intriguing, too, but for a different reason--it's famous throughout the Roman Catholic world for containing the remains of St. Francis Xavier, Goa's patron saint, who in the mid-16th Century went on legendary missionary voyages throughout Asia. When he died (or so the story goes), inexplicably his body didn't decompose, despite being doused with quicklime. The church later declared his "incorruptible" body to be a miracle, and put it on display here at the Basilica in a silver casket with glass windows. Over the centuries various parts of his body were lopped off and scattered throughout Asia as holy relics, but most of his corpse is still here on display. Apparently every ten years they take him out and parade him around, but the last time was in 2004, so today I had to be content with viewing him through his glass case. I have to say after all these years he looks a little...er...dry, but all in all not in too bad shape if indeed he truly wasn't embalmed. Kind of freaky, though. Adding to the strangeness, there's a modern art gallery upstairs in the church featuring large paintings depicting St. Francis' missionary work. The paintings get more and more surreal, though, and by the end of the exhibit, they're bizarre Dali-esque works with all kinds of grotesque distortions. Very trippy!
Later I couldn't resist returning to A Ferradura for some more Portuguese-influenced Goan cuisine--tonight I tried the feijoada, a spicy stew made with pork and beans, which was really good.
posted by John Kuge at 8:31 PM
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