I have chosen entire
Goa
as the "sister City" of my hometown Karwar, cos its just 15 kilometers from Karwar, and i have traveled there extensively, and have a lot of pictures... One of them is this....
Name of the Church :-
Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Panaji - Goa, built in 1521 by Franciscan friars, the first group that came to Goa in 1517. Back then it was a chapel. Later, it was modified into a church in 1521 and consecrated to the Holy Spirit on 2nd August, 1602. The church was rebuilt in 1661, but the black stone gate finely carved was retained. The convent reconstructed in 1529 was initially a group of cells built by Friars in the garden for residence purpose.The Government of Portugal closed the convent in 1835. Later in 1964, a museum was set up in the convent and today, it houses a number of artifacts, paintings and sculptors. The double storeyed structure, 230 feet long and 108 ft wide was the residence of Archbishop till 1695, when they moved to Panelim.
The
church built of laterite is lime plastered. The doorway is Manueline style and the facade is flanked by octagonal towers on either side. A recess in the wall holds the statue of Our lady of Miracles (transported from Jaffna in Sri Lanka). On the pedestal bearing the sign of Fransiscans stands a wooden statue of St. Francis. The church is open for the public from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm except on Sundays and the museum is open 9 am to 12:30 pm and 3 pm to 6:30 pm.
The convent was turned into an Archaeological Museum for public in 1964. The museum has a rich collection of paintings, artefacts, statues etc. On display are eclectic collection comprising sixty portraits of Portuguese viceroys and governors of Goa. There are statues of Afonso de Albuquerque, Vasco da Gama and St.Catherine (in bronze) from the Viceroy of Arch. Some Hindu deities are also there like Lord Vishnu and a standing statue of Lord Surya (the sun god).
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