Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica (Kochi)

Facade of Santa Cruz

Interior of the cathedral basilica

The Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica is a Roman Catholic church in Fort Kochi in the Ernakulam district of the southern Indian state of Kerala . The cathedral of the diocese of Cochin bears the patronage of the Holy Cross and the title of minor basilica .

history

Old cathedral

The second Portuguese fleet under Pedro Álvares Cabral to India supported King Unni Goda Varma Tirumulpadu of Cochin against the Zamorin of Calicut after their arrival on December 24, 1500 . The Portuguese army under commander Afonso de Albuquerque , which reached Cochin in 1503, defeated this opponent of the King of Cochin, who in return gave the Portuguese permission to build a fort and a stone church in Kochi. The foundation stone of the Santa Cruz Church was laid on May 3, 1505, the feast day of the discovery of the cross , after which the church received the patronage and a relic of the Holy Cross . In 1558 Pope Paul IV made the church the cathedral of the new diocese.

After taking over the region in 1663, the Dutch destroyed most of the Catholic churches, only the Franciscan church and the cathedral remained undamaged, the latter being used as an arms depot. When the British took over the cathedral in 1795, they demolished the cathedral. One of the decorative granite columns from the ruined cathedral is still kept as a monument on the southeast corner of the current building of the basilica.

Today's cathedral basilica

About 100 years later, Bishop João Gomes Ferreira (1887–1897) took the initiative to rebuild. Under his successor, Mateus de Oliveira Xavier (1897-1908), the building was completed. The cathedral was consecrated on November 19, 1905 by Bishop Sebastião José Pereira, Bishop of Damao. In 1984, Pope John Paul II granted the Santa Cruz Cathedral the status of a minor basilica because of its importance .

Exterior views of the modern building 2018

Building

The church has two tall facade towers and a remarkably light, whitewashed exterior and pastel colored furnishings. The interior of the church is largely neo-Gothic with an Indian influence, such as the main altar by the famous Italian painter Antonio Moscheni, SJ, and his pupil De Gama from Mangalore. Also included are the columns decorated with frescoes and wall paintings, the seven large canvas paintings of the Passion and Death on the Cross, especially the imitation of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci . The paintings on the ceiling show scenes from the Way of the Cross.