Mar 172014
 

A Portuguese Church in the Backwaters of  Champakulam Alleppey

We all know Vasco da Gama was the first recorded European to reach India, bypassing the red sea and Mediterranean, as he sailed around Africa, turned around from Cape of Good Hope and reached Kerala. Though his primary purpose was to find a safe route to India. The route from Red sea though short, had its own issues like high taxes by the countries on the way, passing desert, hiring about 2000 camels to carry the load ( more on this in a later post- how about subscribing by email to get them ?)

But before Vasco Da Gama, it is believed St. Thomas first Arrived in India in 52 AD. and introduced Christianity in India. So when Vasco da Gama, arrived in Kerala, he was surprised to see Indians already practicing Christianity, though very different from the Portuguese version.

So the Portuguese decided that they need to do a version control and started building Churches that followed the Portuguese brand of Roman Catholic religion.

During one of our Houseboat rides, as part of Kerala Blog Express I and Nelson Carvalheiro, my fellow Traveler, and blogger from Portugal, who actually lives in Germany saw this old Church on the shore in Champakulam village, and we decided to explore.

St Mary's Forane Champakulam Church Portuguese

St. Mary’s Forane Church- Boat Jetty Road – Champakulam


Johnny our cook, cum guide jyada, took us on a tour. We were told that the church was first built in 427 AD, and since then many new buildings were constructed on the old one.  We were told that the large major renovation happened around 200 years ago.


As we headed closer to the Church building we could hear hymns emerging from the doors and colorful stained glass windows of the snow white church building.  We later realized it was a special prayer during the month of Lent.

Lent Prayer Portuguese Church Champakulam Alleppey

Believers in a mass in the Old Portuguese Church

Women praying in Champakulam Church in Kerla

Women offering prayers in the Old Champakulam Portuguese Church

We were trying to find a stone that will tell us the exact date of when the Champakulam Church was built, but could not find anybody who could help us as people were busy with the mass. The Chandeliers and the frescoes in the Church are beautiful with the colors still glowing in the light filtering from the stained glass and the candles on the altar.

Frescoes Jesus Christ Champakulam Portuguese Church

Beautiful Colors of the Frescoes of Jesus in the Church

Chandeliers in Portuguese Church India

And then God said” Let There Be Light”

Later we saw this Stone platform with a stone cross that had something written in either Malayalam or one of the other South Indian languages. But no body we spoke to could read the same.

Stone with ancient malayalam language Champakulam Church India

Stone Pillar in Champakulam Church

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2557/13196315305_172643acc8_c.jpg

Old Stone Pillar with Cross  in the Church

Stone pillar in Old Portuguese Church India

Stone with some inscriptions and a face in flower

We walked around the Old Portuguese Church, and noted a few things that  only happen in India.

colorful candle holders in church

Colorful Candle holders

Just like in temples and mosques in India, people were removing shoes before entering the main building of the Church. Women and men had separate areas to stand/sit in the Church.

Nelson Carvalheiro Travel and Food Blogger Champakulam Church

Nelson Carvalheiro outside the Champakulam Church in Alleppey

The Colorful windows and the frescoes on the walls were very similar to one found in Europe.
As we were moving around Nelson noticed that the Church was built by the  a sect that possibly had a close association with his home town in Portugal.
This was a very emotional moment for him and both of us sat down with the locals and closed our eyes. I am not sure what Nelson was thinking or praying but I was wondering at the ways of the almighty one.

There were more than 15 houseboats in our  and travel bloggers group, from India to Indonesia to Brazil to New Zealand and Poland, and none of of them stopped at the church.  But for some reason both me and Nelson decided to stop by, even though Johnny was initially not keen to take us there due to lack of time.

But what a revelation it was for me, here I was in a Portuguese church built hundreds of years ago, and my fellow traveler turns out to be from a town in Portugal from where the builders of the Church may have come.

Praise the Lord!

Here are the details of the Portuguese Church in Champakulam

Name:  St. Mary’s Forane  Church, Champakulam, on Boat Jetty Road

St. Mary's Forane Church Kerala

St. Mary’s Forane Church- Boat Jetty Road Champakulam

How to reach: Take a Boat Bus or Jetty 🙂

Earlier Posts in Kerala Blog Express Series

disclaimer: This post does not aims or claims to be historically or scientifically authentic. I have just written what we observed. If you know more about this Church, kindly mention in the comments.

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  11 Responses to “An Old Portuguese Church in the backwaters of Champakulam Alleppey”

Comments (8) Pingbacks (3)
  1. This is totally untrue.It is not a Portuguese Church.Churches in Kerala were built by locals with some European elements add after 1700.The Portuguese never ruled or had any great influence in kerala. Prasad should do his research well before writing total falsehood about history.

    • Please send me the links to your claims or go and inform the people in the community who informed me the same and also please educate the local guides who inform of the Portuguese connection to all visitors.

  2. It is indeed a beautiful church built in Portuguese architecture and one of the Altars was built in Goa But it is a syro-Malabar church (Belonging to the ancient Christian community known as St. Thomas Christians) and it is said that the local ruler, the Raja of Ambalapuzha was a benefactor of this church. I too have visited the church in a similar tour and have emotional attachments to this beautiful place of worship. In fact I have more to share. Muito Obrigado- Danke.
    J.M. Ovelil (Goa)

    • Dear Mr. Ovelil : Welcome to desi Traveler. You have brought a few more highlights to the Church and its history. I was indeed made aware of St. Thomas Christians when I was in Kerala and the fact that Christianity came to Kerala much before Vasco De Gama. I had no idea that the altar was built in Goa, please do share more about the same for the benefit of our readers. Thanks a lot…

  3. Interesting Church and beautiful too. Nice post!

  4. Bful pics .
    Allepey is my dream destination ! 🙂

  5. Very interesting place. The inside of the church is very beautiful.

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