Posted on: 22 April 2010

View of Old Goa looking towards the North East showing the Rosary Church with a red roof and the New St Paul's Seminary, which fell into ruin early in the 19th century - 1798.

Water-colour painting of Goa Velha, a town situated at the mouth of the Mandovi River in Goa, a small state on the west coast of India, by John Johnson (c.1769-1846). This image is from a sketch-book of 36 drawings depicting scenes chiefly in West India and Mysore, c. 1795-1801.

Before the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 16th century Old Goa (Goa Velha) was a thriving city belonging to the Adil Shahi Sultans of Bijapur. Under Portuguese occupation the town developed into the first Christian colony in the Indies, with a population of 200,000. The Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary (1526) was one of the first churches constructed by the Portuguese after their arrival. The Church is situated on Holy Hill and marks the spot from where the Portuguese conqueror Alfonso de Albuquerque, witnessed the re-conquest of Goa by the forces of Adil Shah in 1510. The College of St. Paul was founded in 1541 to instruct converts to Christianity in the arts and sciences and to train them as preachers in their own languages. It contained a huge library and in 1556 possessed the only printing press in the East.

Source : British Library


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I must say I dont fancy these huge church buildings