#history
Historic Church 1/10:
St Francis’s Church, Kochi.
St Francis’s Church in Fort Kochi, is probably the oldest European church in India. Originally built in wood by the Franciscan missionaries in about 1503 CE, the church was later – in about 1516 – rebuilt in stone. The Franciscans kept control of the church till 1663, when it went into the possession of the Dutch, who converted it into a Protestant church.
In 1804 (by when the British had been in power at Kochi for over 25 years), the church finally became an Anglican one.
Equally historic: this church was where Vasco da Gama was buried when he died in 1524. In 1538, his remains were disinterred and taken to Portugal, where he was finally entombed at the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon.
Photo #2 shows the pews, with an old-fashioned cloth pankha hanging above. Photo #3 has a little framed text about Vasco da Gama, next to an old Dutch gravestone that has been transferred from the floor of the church to a wall.
The last photo marks the spot of da Gama’s interim tomb.
– Swapna Liddle .



