Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The Maquinez Palace



"The Palace of Maquinezes or Palacio dos Maquinezes was built in 1702 and originally belonged to two brothers, Diago da Costa de Ataide e Tieve (a squadron leader) and Cristovam da Costa de Ataide e Tieve, known by the name of Maquinezes. In 1842, the Portuguese used the nearly 150-year old Palace to house a medical institution -- Goa Medical College which was later occupied by the Dept of Food and Drugs Administration, Govt of Goa. Today, in its new refurbished avatar, the Palacio dos Maquinezes will house the offices of the Entertainment Society of Goa, and the organizational partners of the International Film Festival of India, the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) and Press Information Bureau (PIB)"..... IFFI webpage


"Former civil servant and conservation enthusiast Percival Noronha notes that the period look of this building is evident from its Roman, Neo-classical and Gothic style, semi-circular arched windows, wooden ceilings, cast iron railings, and ornamental tiles with rose motifs.
It also has long corridors, balustrades, pilasters, mouldings, ornamental grills, oculii, stained glass windows of Gothic style window panes, porches and pillars resembling the Doric Order."- reports Frederick Noronha


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The Old Goa Medical College building, now IFFI flagship.



In marked contrast to the Neo Classical look of the older buildings, the INOX block is modern with aluminium panel cladding and glass walling. The foyer of the multiuplex is designed to awe, with its inner space soaring to the height of the glass wall. The rusticated panelling to the left reminds of the brutalistic look of raw concrete blocks.


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The Inox wall, the IFFI curtains and a tree form a nice silhouette. I watched a Renoir classic "Grand Illusion" at the Maquinez Hall. One of the most impressive characters in the film, the aristocratic Captain Boldieu would have approved of the historic setting. This last photo of the Palace is courtesy Count Frederick the Noronha.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Jose,

I am a regular visitor to your blog and enjoy reading the well researched posts.Well done!
Glad that they maintained the original facade of the Palace. Generally speaking ,the building signage in Goa is so bad...the third pic with the ugly blue board sticking out of the elevation concealing the classical balustrade defaces the elegant look of facade.The best example of bad signage is at the airport -the disproportionate ugly signboard seen from the air side is so unwelcoming!

Take care,

Antonio

Jose Lourenco said...

You said it, Antonio. Ugly signage is the scourge of a fine place like Goa. Folks here, even at the highest levels, have no sense of aesthetics when it comes to how and where to place a sign, how large it should be or what font should be used.

I recall some years back when the controversial Sanjit Rodrigues was Deputy Collector of Margao, he decided to clean up the place. He confiscated hundreds of illegal signs and fined the establishments heavily. Of course, a few months later all the signs were back.

I appreciate your feedback. It makes my blog worth the while to hear from readers. Thanks.

Do visit the sisterblog www.photogoa.blogspot.com and drop me a mail at joselourenco@rediffmail.com

Cheers
Jose

fredericknoronha said...

Thanks for bestowing that title on me ... I don't mean to be rude, but given my political preferences, could I have something more plebian please? FN

Unknown said...

Mr. Jose Lourenco ...if you have limited information about heritage structures .. kindly do not post pictures and irrelevant information in-relation with the same.
the Goa Medical College as it's known today was formally known as '' escola medico cirugica de nova goa'' it was started by Dr. Bernardo Wolfango da' Silva who was one of the 5 pioneers responsible for setting up which is currently known as G.M.C. it was never an institution run by the Portuguese government but was privately run. as the school was set up in a portion of the 'Palacio dos Marquinezes' due to lack of scape to run a school the whole palace along with it's lands and encumbrances including the portion of land which houses the inox was donated by His grace, Dom Jose Joaquim de Noronha, by the grace of God the Late Count of Mayem for the benefit of the State og Goa.
for further information on the '' Palacio dos Marquinezes''
kindly contact : Mauricio de Deus deniz : 9011260123

Unknown said...

Mr. Jose Lourenco ...if you have limited information about heritage structures .. kindly do not post pictures and irrelevant information in-relation with the same.
the Goa Medical College as it's known today was formally known as '' escola medico cirugica de nova goa'' it was started by Dr. Bernardo Wolfango da' Silva who was one of the 5 pioneers responsible for setting up which is currently known as G.M.C. it was never an institution run by the Portuguese government but was privately run. as the school was set up in a portion of the 'Palacio dos Marquinezes' due to lack of scape to run a school the whole palace along with it's lands and encumbrances including the portion of land which houses the inox was donated by His grace, Dom Jose Joaquim de Noronha, by the grace of God the Late Count of Mayem for the benefit of the State og Goa.
for further information on the '' Palacio dos Marquinezes''
kindly contact : Mauricio de Deus deniz : 9011260123