Churches and Convents of Goa

Churches and Convents of Goa

Subject – Art and Culture

Context – ongoing citizens’ movement against an allegedly illegal bungalow in a precinct that is home to several heritage monuments, including the popular Basilica of Bom Jesus.

Concept –

• Churches and convents of Old Goa is the name given by UNESCO to a set of religious monuments located in Goa Velha (or Old Goa), in the state of Goa, India, which were declared a World Heritage Site in 1986.
• Goa was the capital of Portuguese India and Asia. The city of Old Goa was founded in the fifteenth century by the Sultanate of Muslim rulers of Bijapur as a port on the banks of the Mandovi river.
• The village was taken in 1510 by Afonso de Albuquerque, the first Portuguese Viceroy.
• At its peak it was said to have been a city of over 200,000 inhabitants and was known by the title ‘Rome of the East’, specifically for its splendid and innumerable collection of Cathedrals and churches.
• The churches and convents of Goa, the former capital of the Portuguese Indies – particularly the Church of Bom Jesus, which contains the tomb of St Francis-Xavier – illustrate the evangelization of Asia.
  • These monuments were influential in spreading forms of Manueline, Mannerist and Baroque art in all the countries of Asia where missions were established.