Churches & Cathedrals

Velankanni

Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health

The grand seaside Marian basilica at the heart of the pilgrimage.

Old Goa Churches (Velha Goa)

Basilica of Bom Jesus

The baroque basilica enshrining the relics of St. Francis Xavier.

Old Goa Churches (Velha Goa)

Se Cathedral

One of the largest churches in Asia, dedicated to St. Catherine.

Telangana

Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, Secunderabad

Most people still call it St Mary's, and the older name fits the building better than the title it was given in 2008. Completed in 1850, it is the oldest Roman Catholic church in Secunderabad and served as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad until 1886, when it ceased to be one. The convent next door has been there since 1871, when nuns from Turin arrived and opened the school that still runs beside the church. It is on Sarojini Naidu Road, and it is worth the short detour if you are already in Secunderabad rather than a trip of its own.

Puducherry

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pondicherry

Go for the glass. The rare stained panels inside this minor basilica on Pondicherry's south boulevard depict events from the life of Christ and from the lives of the saints, and they are the reason to step in rather than photograph the front and move on. The building is an oriental reading of Gothic Revival, which is worth taking on its own terms rather than measuring against European churches. In recent years it has become one of the better-known Christian pilgrimage places here, so it is not a quiet building at the times you would expect.

Delhi

Cathedral Church of the Redemption

Built between 1927 and 1931 for the Viceroy, which is why Delhi still calls it the Viceroy Church, and standing just east of Parliament House and Rashtrapati Bhavan. The name and the shape both come from Palladio's Il Redentore in Venice, and knowing that before you walk in changes what you look at. It is not a monument that has been retired: the cathedral serves the Delhi diocese of the Church of North India and is in weekly use. Fold it into a morning spent around the Parliament buildings, because you are already next to it.

Goa

Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount

Getting up here takes some doing. The chapel sits on a hill above the Mandovi and is not easily reached, which is exactly why it is the quietest thing in Old Goa. Afonso de Albuquerque ordered it built straight after the Portuguese conquest of 1510 and it was finished in 1519, making it one of the oldest churches in the city. Laterite stone, Baroque with Mannerist leanings. It stood in ruins until 2001, when Fundação Oriente funded and planned the restoration with the state government. Every November the courtyard fills for the Monte Music Festival, the one time you will not have it to yourself.

Puducherry

Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Pondicherry

The local name gives away more than the official one. People call it Samba Kovil, which is what Tamil speakers made of Saint Paul's Kovil, kovil being the word for a temple and applied here to a church. Officially this is the mother church of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore, which makes it the seat of the archbishop rather than a museum piece. It is a working cathedral before it is a sight, so keep the visit short and make it when nothing is on.

Nagaland

Kohima Ao Baptist Church

In Midland Ward, this is the main church building of the Ao Nagas living in Kohima, affiliated with the Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang. It was one of the first Ao churches established outside the Ao region, which is the reason it matters to the people who fill it. Little else is documented. Look in if you are already in Midland; it does not justify a trip across town.

Nagaland

Mary Help of Christians Cathedral, Kohima

Look at the facade first: it is built to resemble a Naga house, and the cathedral sits into its hill rather than on top of it, so it reads as part of Kohima rather than an import. There is a carved wooden crucifix sixteen feet high, one of Asia's largest crosses. The three-crore cost was met mostly by Japanese donors who wanted a memorial to the soldiers who died in the Battle of Kohima; the inscriptions outside say so plainly, and the cathedral later hosted reconciliation meetings between Japanese and British veterans. Construction began in 1986 and the church was consecrated in January 1991. Read the inscriptions.

Meghalaya

Mary Help of Christians Cathedral, Shillong

Shillong's Catholic cathedral is a working church before it is a sight, and that is the reason to go. It is the seat of the Metropolitan Archbishop and the principal place of worship for over 342,000 Catholics across an archdiocese of 49 parishes covering East Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi. The building has stood more than 85 years. Time your visit around a service if you want to understand what it means to the city; come on a quiet weekday afternoon if you would rather have the interior largely to yourself.

Goa

Old Goa (Basilica of Bom Jesus)

Old Goa, or Velha Goa, stands on the bank of the Mandovi a short drive from Panaji — the former capital of the Portuguese Eastern Empire, and still a dense cluster of colonial churches several centuries old. The Basilica of Bom Jesus is at the centre of it. The Basilica is baroque, and unusual for it: the facade is dark laterite, left un-plastered rather than finished. Inside are gilded altars and a marble and bronze mausoleum. Straight across the square is the Se Cathedral, one of the largest churches in Asia, built in the Portuguese-Manueline manner.

Goa

Old Goa Churches (Velha Goa)

The churches and convents of Old Goa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, form the greatest ensemble of Christian heritage in India. The Basilica of Bom Jesus enshrines the relics of St. Francis Xavier, drawing Catholic pilgrims worldwide, while the Se Cathedral is one of Asia's largest churches.

Puducherry

Our Lady of Angels Church, Karaikal

Nothing in Karaikal stands taller. The tower went up in 1891 and reaches 133 feet, which makes this the easiest building in town to navigate by, and it faces the Bay of Bengal. The French built the present Neo-Gothic structure in 1822, after the British destroyed the 1739 original, and it is the oldest church in Karaikal. It remains a working Roman Catholic parish with hourly prayer and daily services. The date to plan around is 15 August, when the ten-day Thetheravu Matha festival begins and the festive image of Mary is drawn through the surrounding streets on a chariot.

Puducherry

Our Lady of Angels Church, Puducherry

Mass here is said in French, Tamil and English, the only church in Pondicherry city where all three are on the schedule. Napoleon III had it built in 1855 to a Greco-Roman design by Louis Guerre, and it stands on Dumas Street in White Town facing the Bay of Bengal, which is why locals call it Dumas Church. It is the fourth oldest church in Puducherry, and a working Roman Catholic parish with hourly prayer and daily services, so it is rarely empty and rarely loud. Go in rather than photograph it from the street; the interior is the point.

Puducherry

St. Andrew's Church, Puducherry

The story worth carrying in is the opening feast. When Kanakaraya Mudali, the longest-serving dubash of the French East India Company, built this church in 1745, he fed all castes and religions together, the first such meal recorded in South India. The British are believed to have destroyed the building in 1761, and what stands in Reddiarpalayam was rebuilt in 1830. It was also the first church in South India to carry inscriptions in Tamil. It is still a working Roman Catholic parish with hourly prayer and daily services, so keep a visit short and stay out of the congregation's way.

Manipur

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Imphal

Mantripukhri, on the outskirts of Imphal, holds the Catholic cathedral for the whole archdiocese, the archbishop's own church, finished in 1999. Its design is described as Anglo-Manipuri fusion, which is the interesting part: a cathedral plan carrying local form rather than a copy of something European. It is recent, so come for that and not for age. Go if church architecture interests you, or if you are already out on that side of the city. It is not worth crossing town for.

Punjab

St. Mary's Cathedral, Jalandhar

What stands in Jalandhar Cantonment today is new. The church built here in 1847 and dedicated to St Patrick was pulled down in 1987, and the present cathedral, raised on a foundation stone blessed by Pope John Paul II, was inaugurated on Diwali in 1989. It is the seat of the Jalandhar diocese, and became the mother church of Punjab after Partition separated the region from the Diocese of Lahore. Worth a look if you are already in the cantonment; not worth a detour across the city.

West Bengal

St. Paul's Cathedral, Kolkata

Calcutta's European population had outgrown its churches by the 1800s, and this was the answer: cornerstone laid in 1839, finished in 1847, and reckoned the first Anglican cathedral in Asia as well as the largest church in the city. The style is Indo-Gothic, Gothic adjusted for the Indian climate, and what you see is a revised design — the earthquakes of 1897 and 1934 forced a rebuild. The memorials repay a slow circuit; John Paxton Norman, an acting Chief Justice assassinated on the Town Hall steps in 1871, is buried here. A library sits over the western porch.

Daman & Diu

St. Paul's Church, Diu

Of the three churches the Portuguese built on Diu Island, this is the one to choose if you are only going to see one — it is generally reckoned among the best baroque buildings in India, and the façade is the argument. It is also still a working church rather than a monument, so a visit lands somewhere between sightseeing and turning up at someone's service; go quietly. The full name is a paragraph in itself: the College of the Holy Spirit and Church of Our Lady of the Conception or Saint Paul.

Nagaland

Sümi Baptist Church, Zünheboto

Zünheboto's Sümi Baptist Church holds over 8,500 people and counts among the largest church buildings in Asia, which is not a sentence you expect to write about a Nagaland town. It is affiliated with the Nagaland Baptist Church Council. On an ordinary weekday there is little to do beyond stand inside and take in the sheer volume of the place, five minutes, honestly. Worth stopping for if Zünheboto is already on your route; not worth the drive on its own.

Old Goa (Velha Goa), Goa

Churches and Convents of Goa