Goa Travel Tourism >> Goa Travel Guide >> Churches of Goa >> The Professed House And The Basilica of Bom Jesus, Goa
The Professed House And The Basilica of Bom Jesus, Goa
 The Professed HouseImmediately to the south of the main road is the Professed House, a two-storeyed laterite building covered with lime plaster. Despite the opposition, which the Jesuits faced, the building was completed in 1585. A part of the building was accidentally burnt down in 1663 and was rebuilt in 1783. The Church Of Bom Jesus The Church of Bom Jesus is also of laterite; its exterior, excepting the facade, was lime plastered, which was subsequently removed. The roof was originally tiled. The church is cruciform on plan. The flying buttresses on the northern side of the church are recent additions. A single-storeyed structure adjoining the church on its southern wing connects it with the professed house. Click here for Tours to Goa The three-storeyed facade facing west, shows Ionic, Doric and Corinthian Orders, and a main entrance flanked by two smaller ones, each having Corinthian columns supporting a pediment. Within the church are two chapels, a main altar and a sacristy besides a choir at the entrance. A belfry is at the back.  A Blend OF Renaissance & Baroque StylesA projecting gallery, which was intended for the use of dignitaries on solemn occasions, runs along the two longer sides. Excepting the richly gilded altars, the interior of the church is remarkable for its simplicity. While the facade has the classical orders of the Renaissance, the altars are in Baroque style. The church is called "Bom Jesus" meaning 'good Jesus' or 'infant Jesus' to whom it is dedicated. The facade has on it, at the top, the letters, "HIS" which are the first three letters of Jesus in Greek. The two columns supporting the choir bear slabs inscribed in Portuguese and Latin recording that the construction of this Church of Jesus was commenced on 24 November 1594 and Fr. Alexia de Menezes, the Archbishop of Goa and Primate of India consecrated it on 15 May 1605, when it was completed. Within The Church's Domicile As one enters, beneath the choir, to the right is an altar of St. Anthony and to the left is an exceedingly well-carved wooden statue of St. Francis Xavier. In the middle of the nave on the northern wall is the cenotaph of the benefactor of this church, Dom Jeronimo Mascarenhas, the Captain of Cochin, who died in 1593, bequeathing the resources out of which this church was built. Opposite the cenotaph, projecting on the southern wall is a profusely carved wooden pulpit with a canopy on top. The pulpit has on its three sides the figures of Jesus, the four evangelists and four doctors of the church. The bottom of the pulpit depicts seven figures as though supporting it. The Main Altar The main altar at the end of the nave is flanked by two decorated altars in the transept, one dedicated to Our Lady of Hope and the other to St. Michael. The richly gilded main altar has the figure of infant Jesus and above it is a large statue of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the order of Jesuits, gazing with fervour at a medallion on which is inscribed "HIS". Above the medallion, the Holy trinity - the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are depicted. In the transept on the northern side is the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. The Chapel On the southern side in the transept is a chapel with gilded twisted columns and floral decorations of wood, where the sacred relics of the body of St. Francis Xavier are kept. The interior of this chapel is richly adorned with wooden carvings and paintings, depicting the scenes from the life of the Saint. The Ornate Grandeur The rectangular base of the tomb is of jasper of reddish and purple colours decorated with carvings in white marble. Above the basement is another rectangular mass of slightly lesser dimensions having a plaque in bronze on each of its four sides depicting the scenes from the life of the saint, and two cherubs holding scrolls. |
Significance |
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Religious
Depicting The Life Of St. Xavier Through PaintingsOn the southern wall are paintings in Italian School arranged in three rows. In the bottom row are two paintings showing St. Francis Xavier being received by certain Portuguese noblemen and his interview with the King of Bango in Japan. In the middle row are three paintings respectively showing Xavier praying with fervour for cessation of plague that broke out in Manas Island, kissing the repulsive ulcer wound of a patient in a hospital at Venice and the Pope Paul III pronouncing his apostolic benediction on the eve of his departure to India. In the top row are, three paintings of Xavier as a servant of a knight, his sad demise at Sancian, an island off the coast of China and the saint in ecstasy. There are also other paintings on the remaining three sides of the chapel, fixed in decorated wooden frames depicting the scenes from his life and the miracles performed by him. A painting, in oil on canvas, of ST. Francis Xavier is mounted on the top of the wooden door at the back of the chapel |
General Information |
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Location
Old Goa, Panjim, Goa.
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Prime AttrACTIONs of Panjim |
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At the place where two of Goa's famous rivers meet the Arabian Sea is the secluded bay of Dona Paula with a fine view of the Marmagao Harbour. more.. |
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Built in 1602, the only ruin of the Church of St. Augustine on the Holy Hill at Old Goa near the Nunnery, is a lofty 46-metre high tower defying the torrential rains. more.. |
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About 2-km on the main road towards Ponda, a Kuchcha road branches off to a place where a cross is fixed. The road leads to a hill on which, commanding a picturesque view, is the Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount more.. |
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In the Holy Hill, on the way to the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, is a huge three-storeyed building of laterite which was originally lime-plastered but is now plastered with cement. more.. |
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Not far to the west of the Basilica of the Bom Jesus is the Holy Hill at the extremity of which is the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary. more.. |
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To the west of the Se Cathedral is the former palace of the Archbishop that connects the Se Cathedral to the Convent and Church of St. Francis of Assisi. more.. |
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It is built of laterite plastered with lime mortar, with tiled roof supported by wooden rafters is a plain chapel with only one altar. more.. |
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Aguada Fort, which crowns the rocky flattened top of the headland, is the best-preserved Portuguese bastion in Goa. Built in 1612 to protect the northern shores of the Mandovi estuary from Dutch and Maratha raiders more.. |
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The museum has been functioning since 1964 in the abandoned convent of St. Francis of Assisi and is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The collection consists of Brahmanical sculptures hero-stones and sati stones of the early and late medieval periods, portraits, coins and currency, revenue and court fee stamps, wooden and bronze sculptures and armoury of the Portuguese period. more.. |
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The Museum of Goa is housed at a new Building at the Patto Plaze near the Ourem creek, Panaji. The most noteworthy feature of Panjim's State Archeological Museum is its imposing size, which stands in glaringly inverse proportion to the scale of the collection inside. more.. |
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Up in the lush foothills of the Western Ghats, Bondla is good place to see Sambhar and Wild Boar. It is smallest of the Goan Wildlife Sanctuaries. Its area is 8-sq-kms but easiest one to reach. more.. |
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A mere 45 minute bus ride up the coast from the capital, Calangute is Goa's busiest and most commercialized resort more.. |
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On the way to Dona Paula, 1-km ahead of the confluence of the Arabian Sea and Mandvi River, under the palm shade, is "Gasper Dias" or Miramar Beach and is just 3-km away from the capital city of Panjim. more.. |
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The Portuguese Viceroy Redondo commissioned the Se, or St. Catherine's' Cathedral, southwest of St. Cajetan's, to be "a grandiose church worthy of the wealth, power and fame of the Portuguese who dominated the seas from the Atlantic to the Pacific". more.. |
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3-km away from Banastari Bridge on Panaji-Ponda Road is situated the noteworthy temple dedicated to Devaki Krishna at Marcel. The deity is said to have been brought from Chorao in Tiswadi to Mayem in Bicholim and then shifted to its present place during the days of religious persecution by the alien rulers. more.. |
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Situated in West Goa, the Mahadeva Temple in Tambdi Surla is the state's only prominent reminder of the pre-Portuguese temple architecture. Maintained by the ASI (Archeological Survey of India), this 12th century temple boasts of some fine relief's on the 'Shikhara' (spire) depicting a plethora of Gods and Goddesses. more.. |
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The temple tour can be resumed by offering prostrations unto Goddess Mahalakshmi, the presiding deity of Panaji, the capital of Goa. The main temple has been reconstructed recently. The main festivals at this temple are Navaratri and Chaitra Purnima. more.. |
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As one tries to return to Panaji from Harvalem, one can visit the famous temple of Sri Saptakoteshwar Naroa, Bicholim. Sri Saptakoteshwara was the patron deity of the Kadambas who had built a beautiful temple dedicated to this deity at the Diwar Island. more.. |
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From Kansarpal one can proceed to Sanquelim, the hometown of the Ranes of Satari who played key role in Goa's freedom struggle. The ancestors of the present Rane family, who are believed to have migrated to Goa from Udaipur about 600 years ago, built the famous Sri Vithal temple situated on the bank of Valvanta River. more.. |
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Further to the west of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi is the chapel of St. Catherine. Built of laterite blocks it has a tower on either side of the façade. The chapel in the interior, having only one altar is plain more.. |
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Opposite the Se Cathedral, beyond the road is the large and beautiful church of St. Cajetan built of laterite blocks, which were lime plastered. more.. |
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Nothing remains of the Church of the Carmelites excepting the façade and a raised pavement, which served as an altar. Its location is to the southeast of the Church of St. Cajetan more.. |
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Situated to the east of the tower of St. Augustine it is a plain looking building constructed in the beginning of the 18th century. The convent was abandoned in 1835. The Society of the Misericordia occupied it for some time. more.. |
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On the southern outskirts of Old Goa is a hill on which stand this convent and church. more.. |
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To the west of the tower of St. Augustine is the Royal Chapel dedicated to St. Anthony, the national saint of Portugal and held in great veneration by the Portuguese. It was built in the beginning of the 17th century. more.. |
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Condolim Beach
Four or five years ago, Candolim, at the far southern end of Calangute beach, was a surprisingly sedate resort, appealing to an odd mixture of middle-class Bombayites, and Burgundy-clad Sannyasins taking a break from the Rajneesh Ashram at Pune. |
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Suggested Tour Packages
Tour Code: GTT - 002
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