Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
C1
Sights
Basilica of Bom Jesus
( 7.30am-6.30pm; English-language mass 10.15am Sun)
Famous throughout the Roman Catholic
world for its rather grizzled and grizzly long-term resident, the basilica's vast, gilded in-
terior forms the last resting place of Goa's patron saint, St Francis Xavier (except for his
diamond-encrusted fingernail, which sits in Chandor). In 1541, the saint embarked on a
mission to put right the sinful, heady lifestyles of Goa's Portuguese colonials. Construc-
tion of the imposing red-stone basilica was completed in 1605; St Francis himself is
housed in a
mausoleum
to the right, in a glass-sided coffin amid a shower of gilt stars.
CHURCH
Sé Cathedral
( 7.30am-6.30pm)
The largest church in Old Goa, the Sé de Santa Catarina, is also the
largest in Asia, at over 76m long and 55m wide. Construction began in 1562, under orders
from Portugal's King Dom Sebastião, and the finishing touches were made 90 years later.
Fairly plain all-round, the cathedral has three especially notable features: the first, up in
the belfry, is the
Golden Bell
, the largest bell in Asia; the second is in the screened chapel in-
side to the right, known as the
Chapel of the Cross of Miracles
, wherein sits a cross said to have
miraculously, and vastly, expanded in size after its creation by local shepherds in 1619.
The third is the massive gilded reredos (ornamental screen behind the altar), which depicts
the life of St Catherine, to whom the cathedral is dedicated and who came to a sticky end
in Alexandria, Egypt, where she was beheaded.
gious objects, including old church confessionals and altar pieces. The decorative wall
frescoes may be the gallery's prettiest holdings.
CHURCH
Church of St Francis of Assisi
CHURCH
