tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54797600493302116262024-03-18T21:31:10.691-07:00Goan ArchitectureExploring Goa's varied architecture from mudhouses and mannerism to modernism!Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-19911234118911503142020-03-27T07:20:00.003-07:002020-04-04T21:36:39.345-07:00Five Mysteries at Old Goa
Five Mysteries at Old Goa
By José Lourenço
The churches of Old Goa are hundreds of years old and have seen many events and peoples from varied cultures come and go. The walls and vaults of the churches still tell stories to the curious visitor. Some of those mysteries may never be fully revealed. Let us look at five fascinating facets of these churches.
St Cajetan’s ChurchJose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-6910360628330702282020-03-27T07:06:00.002-07:002020-03-27T07:06:27.623-07:00The Goan Soul in Church Architecture
The Goan Soul in Church Architecture
by José Lourenço
The ancient city of Old Goa, known at various times as Elá and Cidade de Goa, has often been called Rome of the East. This is the part of Goa that has run the full course of four hundred and fifty-one years of Portuguese rule. Besides building the massive churches that grace Old Goa today, the Portuguese also brought Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-80024680643576154932014-12-21T04:30:00.002-08:002014-12-21T05:17:08.687-08:00Flying over Margao
Let's take a look at Margao from the sky. It could do with some divine intervention, as Panjim seems to get most of the attention and the makeovers. Here's an overview of Margao city. (Please click on the images for a larger view.) The oval shaped Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium can be seen at the top-centre. At the bottom of the image, just above the pin that says 'Margao-Goa-India', you can Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-23511291322794979832013-07-06T23:03:00.001-07:002013-07-07T00:54:44.312-07:00Rua Abade Faria in MargaoJose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-77194392952953781462012-03-15T07:52:00.007-07:002012-03-15T08:25:27.170-07:00Margao New MarketThese are 'before' shots of the Margao Municipality's New Market building, before it got a facelift. Margao does have a lot of markets - first there was the Old Market (Mercado Velho) near the Colva Circle. Then came this New Market building. Between this building on the Station Road and the 'Shoeshop' Road, lie all the tiny shops that huddle together in a colourful melee of goods ranging from Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-31741399789071859052012-03-04T09:00:00.008-08:002012-03-04T09:49:45.300-08:00Random ShotsThe Santa Ana Chapel at Raia in Salcete is crowned by luxurious Rococo curves. The spacious ground in front and the side structures flanking the chapel harmoniously give this little edifice a glorious setting. Add to it the morning sun and you have a magnificent sight to behold! The architects of old knew how to take a humble chapel and turn it into a gorgeous gem. I'm running out of adjectives..Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-75753419478012007192012-02-05T04:52:00.000-08:002012-02-12T18:53:24.942-08:00Panoramic GoaCreating panoramic views with a digital camera is simply a matter of stitching multiple shots together using software available with your camera or online. The horizontal sweep has to be kept as even as possible and adequate overlap has to be considered. The newer compacts create automatic panoshots, but all these pictures except for the Panjim market have been stitched together. This view shows Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-77665757240843830302011-04-23T06:07:00.000-07:002011-04-23T07:15:10.934-07:00Curves, Goths and GroovesA chapel on the roadside at Saligao. Hundreds of chapels dot the country side in Goa, attached to the village parish churches. This one sports familiar Rococo curves at its apex, common among the churches and chapels of Bardez, dominated by the Franciscans in the heydays of Portuguese rule. The porch seems to have been a later addition. The road must have been much narrower when this chapel was Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-25765654579141692992009-06-13T07:43:00.000-07:002009-06-25T01:46:38.883-07:00Stories the Gravestones Tell.... ..St. Augustine's Tower at Old Goa. The ruins of Nossa Senhora da Graça, the church of Our Lady of Grace. I visited the ruins with Dr. José Pereira, Professor Emeritus of Theology at Fordham University in New York, and a passionate fresco artist. His work adorns the sacristy vault of the St.Joaquim Chapel at Borda, Margao and the main vault of Our Lady of Rosary Chapel at Fatorda, Margao.ItJose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-33985526365791315662008-12-03T02:09:00.001-08:002009-01-05T20:19:42.103-08:00The Cross of Curtorim.Aren't there times when you wish I would just quit giving my sermaos on architecture yo ho hum...? Enjoy these images of the Cross at Curtorim in Salcete,South Goa. A picture is worth a thousand words they say, a sequence of pictures tells its own story.... Last photo from David DoyleJose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-44352940694895619552008-12-03T02:06:00.001-08:002009-06-21T09:20:33.862-07:00Mosque architecture in Goa....Ibrahim Adil Shah, the ruler of Bijapur built 27 mosques in the Ponda taluka around the year 1560. The Safa Shahouri Masjid situated at Ponda is the biggest and most well known of them. A masonry colonnade once adorned the outer periphery of the mosque's platform, surmounted by finials. Of those tall sentinels, today only stubs of varying height remain. .Adjacent to the mosque is an Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-9680223680536761442008-11-20T04:34:00.000-08:002009-06-21T07:23:13.371-07:00Art Deco Architecture around Goa..Back after many months. Let's browse some of my favourite buildings of the time just before Liberation in 1961, when the Art Deco style of architecture raged in Europe and made its echoes felt here in our tiny but style-conscious Goa.The Mandovi hotel, one of the oldest Art Deco period buildings in Goa. I like the 'lightning flashes' of the railing metalwork. The corner is rounded and so are Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-78818032311748361472008-06-16T22:22:00.001-07:002008-12-13T02:04:27.029-08:00Cristo Rei at Assolna. Assolna village in Salcete, South Goa is famed for its magnificent monument to Christ de King or 'Cristo Rei'. Many church compounds in Goa have a Cristo Rei statue alongwith a grotto of Our Lady. But the one in Assolna is large and awesome in its detail. Marble statues of the four apostles of the Bible: John, Luke, Mark and Mathew stand at four corners. Cherubs, coats of arms, a central HolyJose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-23035766002549410192008-06-09T07:52:00.000-07:002009-06-25T05:45:45.239-07:00Towers of Light -2-.We have seen the Towers of Light or Deep Stambhas of the Mahalsa Temple at Ponda in an earlier post . Let's take a look at the glorious towers of the other prominent temples in Goa. Here is the six-storied deepstambh at the Shantadurga temple at Kavlem. Arched openings in an octagonal plan with capitals, cornices and moulding give it a classical Neo-Roman look...The Ramnath temple (below) has aJose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-46762328744353680042008-06-02T23:01:00.000-07:002008-12-13T02:04:34.296-08:00Random buildings. Let's take a random stroll around some locations in Goa. Here is a lecture hall block of two classrooms at Goa Engineering College. This is where we took our first classes as first year students, FE for short. In between lectures in June and July, the seniors would take over the class for their initiation exercises, ragging for short! FE bastards!!!....they would yell at us..The block design isJose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-1607016078688251572008-05-30T23:47:00.000-07:002011-09-09T07:09:59.274-07:00Ravindra Bhavan at Margao. The newly completed Ravindra Bhavan stands near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda,Margao. This complex for the performing arts will provide Margaoites and Shasttikars the cultural space required for large events, a need barely fulfilled by the Gomant Vidya Niketan auditorium presently. But does Margao's equivalent of Panjim's Kala Academy reflect an ethos in its architecture as well as Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-65721453354422639382008-02-15T06:20:00.000-08:002008-12-13T02:04:41.212-08:00Latin Quarter.The Fontainhas and Mala area is often called the 'Latin Quarter' of Panjim. I went strolling through Fontainhas, Mala, Rua de Ourem and Altinho. The architecture of these old houses, some of them nicely restored, is pleasant on the eye. This area is a Mecca for tourists in Goa who wish to saunter back in time. Fontainhas is the heritage quarter of the capital city of Panaji, lying along the Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-5776227864866802242008-02-02T04:25:00.000-08:002008-12-13T02:04:42.454-08:00Municipal buildings.Some of the Municipal buildings in Goa show the passage of time and architectural style. The old Municipal building of Margao located near the Old Market looks like a typical old Portuguese mansion. It had shops on the ground floor and a large hall on the first floor. I don't think the young lady waiting for a bus knows that blood was once shed at this place on September 21, 1890 when PortugueseJose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-31330275081719430512008-01-26T01:43:00.000-08:002008-12-13T02:04:46.007-08:00Corinthian Capital of Goa.This is the entrance of the Palazzo del Lorenzo in Rome. Fluted columns with Corinthianized columns rise to support a Greek style trabeate roof with a dome at the centre.Oops! It's actually the TB Cunha Memorial at the Azad Maidan in Panjim, the capital city of Goa. It was built by the Portuguese and originally housed the statue of their great adventurer, Afonso de Albuquerque. Today it holds Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-76011556471010121632008-01-21T06:01:00.000-08:002008-12-13T02:04:48.001-08:00Art Deco glam at Margao's cine-theatresThe three cinema theatres of Margao were built in the sixties and bear influences of the Art Deco period. Cine Vishant on the Aquem road has a flamboyant asymmetrical form where abstract curves and linear elements coexist quite happily. A pity the building is not well maintained. Some restoration work needs to be done keeping its bold Moderne spirit in mind. Vishant was a regular haunt of our Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-24443532478354552332008-01-09T00:04:00.000-08:002008-12-13T02:04:51.241-08:00Crib architectureThe 'crib tableaux' created all over Goa during Christmas season offer interesting insights into the imagination of their young creators. These village boys and girls build models of a broad range of architecture ranging from rustic timber huts, houses on stilts and mud houses to multistoried mansions, 'Herod's Palaces' and medieval castles. Architectural features like turrets, gables, spires, Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-79429310762250204722007-12-30T06:30:00.000-08:002009-06-25T05:57:00.967-07:00Deep Stambh - Tower of LightLong long ago, in the mystical land of Mardol, there stood a tower tall and stately. It towered alone over the Mahalsa temple in Ponda taluka..But it woke up one day and found that the temple devotees had erected another gleaming tower next to it. Twenty two levels of oil lamps rose into the air, with this glorious metal pillar resting on a brass turtle's back.The solitary glory gone, the tower Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-45088353771331972142007-12-29T23:00:00.000-08:002008-12-13T02:04:54.411-08:00Purple House.What kind of homes are people building in Goa today? Here's a colony of villas at Sinquetim, Navelim in Salcete. An imposing front with double height columns crowned by a broken pediment. Traces of Neo-Roman memory from the Portuguese era persist. A variant of Ionic capitals decorates the columns and there's even a symbolic keystone over the arched window. I liked the sequence of these houses inJose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-59295652620371301142007-12-23T05:17:00.000-08:002008-12-13T02:04:54.793-08:00Best Wishes for the New Year.Goa has been moulded by a myriad influences over the last thousand years. Yet, in modern times we have been blessed with a tradition of living together harmoniously - Hindus, Christians, Muslims and all other faiths. The Shantadurga Temple at Kavlem, Se Cathedral at Old Goa and Safa Masjid at Ponda stand tall in testimony to this universal faith in humanity. .Here's wishing all my fellow Goans Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5479760049330211626.post-7874046779737330962007-12-20T05:22:00.000-08:002009-06-18T11:08:37.359-07:00Peaked Gable churches - Simple 'masses' !.St.Peter, Prince of Apostles - SAN PEDRO, TiswadiVery old church erected about 1543, as one of the eight parish churches of the Old City of Goa, besides the Cathedral parish. Today it is the only survivor. It was built at the cost of the public treasury by workmen from Portugal.These early buildings, before around 1590, were built in a relatively unsophisticated, late Portuguese Renaissance Jose Lourencohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16734035394938669454noreply@blogger.com3