|
|
The College of St. Paul, once the principal institution of
Jesuits in India for imparting knowledge on Christianity, was built over
the ruins of a mosque south of
St. Cajetan's
church at Old Goa in 1542. However, it was
abandoned during the outbreak of plague in 1570 and went into disuse.
The Government demolished this ruining structure in 1832 to carry
materials for building construction in Panaji. What remains of the college
that was completed in 1542 and of the collegiate church consecrated on 25
January 1543 is the façade in the shape of an arch with a niche at
the top and a cross crowning it. The arch that led to the College as a
gateway is built of laterite, flanked on either side by a basalt column of
the Corinthian order on raised plinth, and supported by basalt pilasters
of the Doric order.