Portuguese Churches in Kochi

Travel Day 925 – Fort Cochin, Kochi, Kerala, INDIA

While I wasn’t that successful in finding the fort in Fort Cochin yesterday, what I did find in the two museums I went to was a hint that there were at least a lot of Portuguese churches around…

Portuguese Church in Mattancherry, India

I had already visited the Portuguese built St. Francis church which was a simple structure form the mid 16 century and it had been built without a bell tower. The main façade was not only gabled, but also divided into elements of threes. Thee storeys was the suggested height of the building while the vertical division was structured into three window bays

The Santa Cruz Basilica on the other hand which was constructed during the British area was a rather big cathedral with twin bell towers and it had probably no relation whatsoever to the Portuguese Se Cathedral that once stood here. But after seeing some photos of churches from the surrounding area, it must be assumed that it used to look similar to all the other Portuguese churches: a simple white structure without bell tower and a façade that was divided into elements of threes…

The Church of our Lady of Hope in Vypeen

We had passed by one of these churches when we were leaving Kochi, on the way to the backwaters and I had seen another one in Mattancherry. Both churches had been of the same type, the typical Portuguese look, but the church in Mattancherry also had a little stupa in front with a cross. This was something I had already seen in Goa, but nothing I was really familiar with from back home in Europe…

Either way, today I felt like exploring a little bit beyond the boundaries of Fort Cochin and so I took the ferry over to Vypeen Island in the morning. I had taken some Puttu wrapped in newspaper and a chai in my travel mug in order to have a breakfast at the waterfront facing Fort Cochin. As I had expected, the atmosphere was even more tranquil and less touristic than Kochi. Here too were some Chinese fishing nets and here too was another Portuguese church…

Portuguese Church around Kochi in India

The Church of our Lady of Hope was situated at an open plaza, facing the water and it could actually be seen from the other side of the lake. A local man told me that it was the oldest original Portuguese church in the area and while I was not sure if that information was correct, the interior looked like it could have been the oldest church. Even if interior décor was very sparse, the few carved elements with silver highlights were simply amazing…

This little Portuguese church on Vypeen Island truly looked like it must have been left alone for hundreds of years and only the minimum to keep the structure healthy had been done. It was finally a nice example of a up-kept historic structure in India and I was happy that even if not the warehouses, at least the churches were maintained somehow… : )