Things nobody told you about Old Goa’s Basilica of Bom Jesus

BROWN CHURCH

The Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa is Goa’s only ‘brown’ church and receives lakhs of visitors each year. Read on for more interesting facts about it.

DATE OF OPENING

Commissioned by the Jesuits, construction of the basilica began in 1594, and it was consecrated more than a decade later, in 1605.

OLDER THAN …

The basilica is older than another stunning 17^th century monument, the Taj Mahal, which was built in 1648.

RAISON D’ETRE

The reason for building the basilica was to house the sacred relics of St Francis Xavier, who breathed his last in 1552. The relics were shifted to the basilica in 1624, almost 2 decades after it opened its doors.

STANDING TALL

The Basilica of Bom Jesus is one of few structures that survived the decline of Old Goa, a prosperous city that once served as the capital of Goa.

CHANGE IN STATUS

In 1946, the church was elevated to the status of a minor basilica.

BEHIND THE COLOUR

While buttresses were added to it in the 1800s, the Basilica's current brown look is the result of restoration work carried out by Baltazar Castro in the 1950s.

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