St Francis of Assisi Church, Goa

St Francis of Assisi Church, Goa (Wickipedia)

I have been inspired to include this Church through the great photos in the book Goa : cultural patters, edited by Saryu Doshi, Marg Publications, Bombay 1983 which I bought years ago in Burnham Market, Norfolk. 

The Franciscans got to Goa in 1517 and soon built a small chapel dedicated to the Holy Spirit. During the century it was enlarged but  by the 1650s was in a poor state of repair. In 1661 it was pulled down and a larger grander replacement was built using laterite blocks covered with lime plaster. Only the facade   and the two octagonal towers in Portuguese Manueline style were kept. The main door frame has the customary exuberant Manualine look..

The interior is a single nave with barrel vaulting and three side chapels on each side.   There are floral frescos in the vault and wall surafces. The main altar dominates with the statue of St Francis kneeling before Christ  in the centre and flanked by paintings of events in his life. There is much fine wood carving which reminds me of the superb examples in Porto.

The original adjoining convent now houses the Archaeological Museum of Goa.