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| St.Stephen's church (1830),Ooty,India bp.blogspot.com |
The
St Stephen's
Church at Ooty in
the Nilgiris district of
Tamil Nadu built in 1830 was designed by Captain John James
Underwood
of Madras
Army and
consecrated by the Bishop of Calcutta
John
Mathias
Turner
(Nov.05,1930).
This
Church has
beautiful Gothic structures
and still retains the Victorian flavour.
Dating
back to 19th century, its foundation stone was laid by Stephen
Rumbold Lushington
( April 23.1829),
the
then
Governor of Madras
who was
keen to
have
a church built in the precincts of Ooty
as the European community
grew
larger and there was no proper place of worship
for them.
Construction
began
on April 23, 1829, being
the
birthday of King George IV,
and was open
to public communion
on Easter
Sunday April
03,
1831.
There are some interesting
aspects about this historical church. Lots of massive timber and
other
materials went
into
construction as result of which
the building is pleasant
inside both in the summer and winter. Almost all wooden materials
used in the building were taken from the slain Mysore king Tipu
Sultan's
palace at Srirangapatnam (Lal Bagli) - in 1820s and transported
through the Sigur ghat area-thick jungle infested with wild animals.
With no proper roads in those days, it was a Herculean task to
transport massive wooden materials uphill to Ooty (elevation 7,000
feet plus). The other aspect is this church was open to services
exclusively for Europeans and was not meant for native Christians.
The British in those days in order to spend their free time had
several social clubs, yacht clubs, etc in many parts of India
exclusively reserved for them and this attracted the irritation of
George Bernard Shaw, who was highly critical of their Brutishness, social class system and snobbery.
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| St Stephens church(1830),Ooty,India. experienceopinion blogspot.com |
The
beautiful stained glass windows depict The Last Supper and Mary
with infant Jesus.The beautiful quiet wooden interior, eye-catching
stained glass windows, glossy floor and the wooded surroundings
create a serene ambiance that will entice people to go into a
meditative mood. Lots of people visit this
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| Door of St.Stephens church,Ooty,India.wikipedia.org |
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| St.Stephen's church (1830),Ooty,India wikipedia.org |
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