Some of the biggest and most elaborate early modern churches in Asia were built in the ‘Old Conquests’ region of the state of Goa (India), a territory of about 720 square kilometres administered by the Portuguese Empire until 1961. The region’s main port city flourished during the sixteenth century as the capital of the Portuguese Estado da Índia, one of the major emporiums of the Indian Ocean, and a gateway for Catholic missionary activity in South Asia and beyond. Several religious orders built their churches convents, and colleges within the city, as most of Goa’s indigenous population was converted to Christianity.
During the early seventeenth century, Goan Catholic priests began striving for empowerment and recognition from the Portuguese and their Goan brethren, as they began taking over some of the parishes of Goa from the missionary orders. This was a first step in a long road toward the empowerment of the Goan indigenous clergy, a process deeply interwoven with the creation of a Goan Christian identity.
In this presentation, I will address the connections between identity, patronage and architecture during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Goa, as the elite of Goan Catholic Brahmins became increasingly empowered in the midst of a racially bigoted colonial society. The churches commissioned by this elite employed architecture as a medium intended to project nobility, affluence and cultural significance in defiance of those who wanted to keep them in subaltern positions. I will also highlight how churches like St Anne in Talaulim (built 1682-ca. 1695) and OL of Sorrow in Divar (built 1699-1724) were built both in emulation of, and in competition with, the grandiose churches of the religious orders in the city of Goa, intending to outdo the Jesuit churches in particular, as they were the major antagonists to the empowerment of the Goan Catholic priests.
Monday, 14/04/2025, 6.15 pm, Department of Asian and Islamic Art History, lecture room and online via Zoom:
https://uni-bonn.zoom-x.de/j/61938828570?pwd=gbUee2b4IqxWBmTnUw4jh5z5kzSY02.11