The Light and Shades of an Oldest European Church in India

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From Kochi city to Fort Kochi was quite a distance for us. My driver lost the way to Fort Kochi. We had to make some stops, asking directions and it took us some two hours to finally get into Fort Kochi. We started with St. Francis Xavier Church which I found it was actually built in year 1503 AD. It was built with wood and later it was rebuilt using stones and roofed with tiles in 1516 AD.

Vasco da Gama the Portuguese navigator with his colleagues, Pedro Alvares Cabral and Alfonso de Alberquerque came to Kochi in the year 1498 AD making Kochi an important trading port in India. Vasco got the piece of land from the Rajah of Kerala thus naming the neighborhood, Fort Kochi. He built this church in dedication to St. Anthony; there were changes of hands through the times of India being colonized by two other foreign countries that is The Dutch and lastly The British. This church was handed voluntarily over to the Anglican Communion by the Dutch to the British in 1804 AD. The Anglicans changed the name of the patron saint to St. Francis Xavier. It is now in the hands of the Church of South India. Vasco died in 1524 AD and were buries in this church until in 1538 AD his body were removed to Lisbon, Portugal. Many of the grave stones of The Portuguese and the Dutch on the floor of the nave were removed have been relocated to the North and South side walls of this church.

This is classified as a protected Monument in April 1923 under the Protected Monument Act of 1904.

The church is still beautiful, solid architecture despite being built so many hundred years ago. It has that calm soothing feeling when I entered the church. It may not be big, but the tinted windows and the chandeliers were familiar in their old fashion way. Old benches that allow us to sit on, nice to hear some creaking sound but still strong, the modern metal beams that supports the fluorescent lamps and hung fans told me in modern times like this, these are essential when they hold a holy communion on weekends. We always live in comfort. But on a hot day it is a nice place to take a break, giving me more time to absorb the beauty of this magnificent old church and also to contemplate about myself would be a good idea after all, maybe to cool myself off would be a good idea after all.

Want any souvenirs? They are sold outside the church, but I don't see the vendor. I guessed this is a safe place to do anything you want to.

This church faces the west and it is best view when the evening sun sets in, showing the best of light and shades of this church.

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Photos

Vasco da Gama 1
Grave Stone and Painting of Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama 2
Vasco da Gama's Burial ground