St. Cajetan Church, Old Goa :

This church has been modeled on St Peter's church in Rome and is dedicated to St. Cajetan, an Italian and contemporary of St. Francis Xavier.

It was built in 1655, by the Italian friars of the Order of Theatines, who were sent by Pope Urban III to preach Christianity in the kingdom of Golconda near Hyderabad.

As the friars were not allowed to work in Golconda, they settled down in Old Goa in 1640.

The beautiful facade of the church is built in classical style, with four niches in front bearing the statues of apostles.

Internally, the main body of the church represents a cruciform in plan. The vaults are ribbed and decorated with elaborate floral designs. The altar of St. Cajetan is the largest and is set to the right hand side of the church.

The baroque reredos is decorated with exquisite carvings of angels towards the base, which tapers gracefully towards the ceiling where a symbolic sun is shown. There is also an alter dedicated to our Lady of Divine Providence. The pulpit is ornately decorated with delicate carvings.

There is a water tank below the raised pulpit, which resembles tanks in Hindu temples, but it is said that the reservoir structure was built to provide greater stability to the entire structure. On the upper walls are numerous niches containing statues of various saints.


Distance's From :