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Cathedral of the Most Holy Rosary

Cathedral of the Most Holy Rosary

James Driver

Photo: Sumit Surai · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Kolkata, India
Client / Owner
Portuguese community
Year
Completed 1799
Access
Public
Typology
Spiritual
Style
—

The Cathedral of the Most Holy Rosary, known as the Portuguese Church, stands on Portuguese Church Street in Burrabazar, Kolkata. James Driver was the architect. Groundbreaking was in 1797, and it was completed on November 27, 1799 at a cost of Rs 90,000. Joseph Barretto, a wealthy Portuguese trader and philanthropist, helped finance it. It replaced a chapel built for Augustinian friars.

The exterior is painted blue and white, with a decorated pediment and two domed towers topped with crown-shaped cupolas. Inside are 14 wooden bas-relief panels of the Stations of the Cross and circular stained-glass windows high above the altar.

It was the main Padroado church in Kolkata until 1834. It is the only surviving architectural relic of Kolkata's Portuguese past, and the seat of the Archbishop of Calcutta.

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