Immaculate Conception Cathedral (Puducherry)
The Immaculate Conception Cathedral ( Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception , full name English Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception , French Notre Dame de la Conception Immaculée ) is a Catholic church in the south Indian city of Puducherry (Pondicherry) and the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Pondicherry and Cuddalore of the Roman Catholic Church in India . It is located in the center of Puducherry on Mission Street (also: Cathedral Street). The baroque church was built in 1791 during the French colonial period and is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of Mary (see Church of the Virgin Mary ).
After the French bought Pondicherry from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1673 , they brought Jesuit missionaries to the city in 1689 . After the St. Paul's College in Goa , the Jesuits in India were known as the "St. Paul's Fathers", which is why the Immaculate Conception Cathedral is still often referred to by the Tamil population as Samba Kovil (corruption of Saint Paul ). The Jesuits built their first church in 1692, but it was destroyed only a year later during the Dutch- French colonial wars. A second church was built in 1699, but did not last long either. Between 1728 and 1736 a third church was built on the site of the current cathedral. In the Third Carnatic War , British troops took Pondicherry in 1761 and destroyed the church. After the end of the war, construction of today's cathedral began in 1770 on the site of the destroyed previous building. On June 20, 1791, the Immaculate Conception Cathedral could be consecrated.
Web links
- Website of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral ( Memento from June 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 11 ° 55 ′ 59 " N , 79 ° 49 ′ 48.5" E