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| Portuguese curch, Dadar, Mumbai, India. mid-day.com |
There are many old churches in Mumbai (Bombay) and its suburb as it happened to be an old British Presidency. The Church of Our Lady of Salvation, popularly referred to as Portuguese Churth is in Dadar. Called Nossa Senhora da Salvação, this historically important church got a face-lift under the guidance of the well-known architect between 1974 and 1977. The church was originally built in 1596 by the Portuguese Franciscans, who landed in India to spread the gospel of Christ.
First built in 1596, the church was rebuilt later in 1651 and 1914. When the church came up for the first time in Dadar, which was then known as lower Mahim in the sixteenth century. The present structure is the fourth on the original site.
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| Portuguese Church, Dadar. Mumbai.Nestopia |
The Portuguese Franciscans carried on their work until 1720 and later they left Mahim and Mumbai. It was in 1935, restoration and additions in the porch, etc were made to meet needs of the parish. With funds becoming available, in 1940 the presbytery was built and provision made for a new church building. Catholics accounted for two-fifths of the parish population. As the Christian community grew in size, much larger church was built designed by Mr. Charles Correia incorporating, the liturgical specification supplied by Bishop Simon Pimenta. The large baptistery, sacristy and the oratory are inter connected so the covered seating and standing capacity of the church during congregation will be more than one thousand.
An important heritage feature of historical value is the cross that was built in the in the 19th century, in the late Baroque Portuguese style. A Portuguese inscription at its base reads, Fabricada por Jacinta Barretto de Vadalla, A. D. 1885. It was installed inside the church compound,and now it is outside the walls of the Church because a part of the church was given to the municipality for road expansion work. The graveyard is on the northwest corner of the site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Church_(Mumbai)
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