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The Origination Of Christianity
For the Portuguese of the 15th and 16th centuries, politics and religion
went hand in hand. Any conquest or colonization was done with religious
zeal. They regarded themselves as the instruments of God on the mission of
propagation of the Catholic faith all over the world. The zeal with which
they originally started in Europe to check the Mongols and later the Arabs
acquired a new significance with the knowledge they obtained of distant
lands that each hazardous exploration brought to light.
Each conquest or colonization of land was followed by the settlement of
Latin missions for conversion of the natives to the Christian faith.
Though Christianity
had come to India traditionally with the arrival of the apostle St.
Thomas, followed by the Syrian Christians on the Malabar Coast, the
Portuguese gave the necessary royal backing to Christianity so that it
took firm roots in the soil of Goa.
The Franciscans were the earliest to arrive in Goa in 1517, and many
other religious orders like the Carmelites, Augustinians, Dominicans,
Jesuits and other followed suit, establishing convents and churches. Even
though belonging to different nations in Europe, they were impelled their
work by the same ideal of extending the spiritual kingdom of Jesus. It
was, therefore, natural that styles of art and architecture that were
prevalent in Europe at that time influenced the artistic and architectural
creations in Goa.
The Renaissance Influence
In the beginning of the 17th century, to which period the construction of
most of the extant churches in Old Goa can be ascribed, the movement of
the Renaissance in Europe was in its last stages, gradually yielding place
to Baroque. The Renaissance movement, which commenced in Italy in the 15th
century with the conscious and ardent revival of the arts of the ancient
world, with the particular employment of the classic Roman "Orders"
- Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite-unbridled by set
principles of norms and rules, soon came to be standardized, thus going
against the very spirit of the movement.
The Baroque Architectural Style
The
Baroque style, often expressed in sinuous frontages, overburdened
decorations, with absolute disregard of well laid principles of
construction, came to be introduced as a natural reaction against
standardization. Twisted shafts, with broken cornices surmounted by clumsy
curved pediments, huge wavy scrolls and flying figures in unimaginable
places and exaggerated interior decorations with intricate details of
ornamentation emphasized by gilding and accompanied by sculptured figures,
were the other salient features of Baroque which had taken a firm grip in
Italy spreading to other parts of Europe.
The architects responsible for the construction of the churches at Old
Goa looked for inspiration to the Italian architects, some of whom were
among the Jesuits that had come to Goa. Imitations of those churches in
Rome, which had a touch of the renaissance with baroque confined to the
interior, sprang up.
The
Church of St. Cajetan is modelled on the original design of St.
Peter's church in Rome. The Church of
Bom
Jesus with its façade decorated with Ionic, Doric and
Corinthian pilasters show the application of the classical order. The se
cathedral, with its Tuscan exterior, the Corinthian columns at its
portals, the raised platform with steps leading to the entrance, the
barrel vault above the nave is yet, another example of the renaissance.
The Baroque style with its heavy ornamentation and gilded work had also
found its way, as seen in the altars of these churches which also served
to make the required impact of awe and reverence on the minds of the new
converts whom these churches were meant to serve.
The Manuline Style Of Architecture
The Manuline style of architecture prevalent in Portugal in the 16th
century failed to make any headway as this style with windows nearer to
the ceiling was not found suitable for the tropical climate of Goa.
The
Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, the earliest among the existing
churches here, was built in Manuline style as an experimental measure.
The ornamented entrance of the
Church
of St. Francis of Assisi is also in Manuline style. Its trefoil arch
and double mouldings are suggestive of the sailor's rope; it has also
floral decorations in between besides the Portuguese National Emblem with
a crown on top. The ribbed vaults, a feature of the Gothic architecture,
are also retained in this church, perhaps as a forerunner to the revival
of the Gothic style by the end of the 17th century.
Churches In Old Goa
All
the churches in Old Goa are built either wholly or largely of locally
available laterite of reddish shade. Basalt, brought from outside Goa,
perhaps from Bassein, was used in the making of pilasters and columns to
decorate the facades. The laterite, being not so strong and durable as
basalt, was protected from weather by a coating of lime plaster applied
over it.
Though the churches were the efforts of different religious orders, they
are similar on plan in so far as the various components like the belfry,
altars, choir, sacristy etc., are concerned; yet they differ in some
details like respective locations of these components in each church as
well as in their dimensions. The buildings are oblong except the
Basilica
of Bom Jesus, which is cruciform on plan. However, an illusion of a
cruciform design in the interior is created in the other churches by the
absence of chapels in the transepts while the chapels run alongside the
naves or aisles, with interior buttress walls separating each chapel from
the other.
Building The Religious Monuments
Even though the churches were modelled on the European ones they are
marked by certain limitations due to climate, availability of materials,
labour and artisans. In a place like Goa, where the monsoon is severe, the
arcades and large portals that afford little protection were dispensed
with. Instead, the use of decorated wooden planks, reducing the size of
the entrances, was resorted to.
The lime plaster needed to protect the laterite structure had to be
repeated frequently keeping the building in a state of constant repair.
Failure to replaster in the face of the heavy monsoon meant complete
deterioration of the building. When buildings like the college of St. Paul
and the Church of St. Augustine were abandoned they were soon reduced to
ruins.
The architects were foreigners but the artisans were the local people.
This is evident in the floral decorations on the interior walls, notably
in the church of
St. Francis of Assisi. In the Church of Our
Lady of
the Rosary is an intricately carved cenotaph on one side of the main
altar bearing impact of Bijapur style. It also closely resembles
tombstones of Gujarat.
PAINTINGS
The paintings in the churches were done on wooden boards and fixed
between panels having floral designs as in the chapel housing the tomb of
ST. Xavier, in the arches above the altars in the transept of the
Se
cathedral and in the nave on either side of the main altar in the
church of St. Franscis of Assisi. These paintings are after the Italian
school, being poor imitations of the canvas paintings of the west, drawn
by the local artists who were supervised and assisted by the Italians. The
paintings thus produced show that the Indian artists were working under
constraint.
However, in the frescoes showing floral designs in the church of
St.
Francis of Assisi, the artist excelled himself as he was following
an age-old tradition. The arabesque designs on the walls reveal traces of
Islamic art and might not have been altogether foreign to the local
artists. However, these designs could also have been inspired by the
prevalence of the Mudejar art-style, which is a hybrid of the Islamic and
Gothic art that evolved in Portugal and Spain. The few canvas paintings
hung in the churches were painted in the west and brought here. The
subject matter of the paintings on wood includes either scenes from the
Holy Bible or incidents from the lives of the saints.
SCULPTURE
Excepting a few statues, which are in stone, the statuary is mostly in
wood delicately carved and painted to adorn the various altars. They
depict mostly the various saints, Mother Mary and Jesus from the Cross.
They are beautiful imitations of western art executed by local artists.
