Bandel Church - A Wonder Relic

Debi Mukherjee (India, 08/03/08)

Since my childhood days I am very fond of visiting Churches. May be because the place I hail from, namely Krishnagar in Nadia District of West Bengal; has a magnificent Church which was frequented by our family members quite often. Whenever I visited any place or country either on official or personal trip, I made it a point to pay a visit to the nearby Church. Thus apart from been four times in the Cathedral located in the  Vatican city, I had the privilege of seeing Churches in Bhopal, Cochin, Delhi, Goa, Geneva, London, Paris and Vienna.

I have heard about the scenic beauty and the history associated with the Bandel Church since long. My in-laws’ place known as Konnagar where I stay during my yearly Kolkata sojourn, is very near to Bandel(both are in the same district)but I could pay a visit to the Bandel Church only this time. This reminds me the famous lines composed by Kavi Guru Rabindra Nath Tagore, inherent meaning of which is “One goes on wandering from place to place in search of sight seeing but has no time to appreciate the beauty of the shining dew-drop in the adjacent grass on a bright Sunny day!”

Anyway let me now describe the Bandel Church. Bandel is a city in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a major junction station of Eastern Railway - 40 km from Kolkata (Howrah station). One can reach there by road (car or bus) or by local train known as “Bandel Local” starting from Howrah at a regular interval.

During or around 1571, the Portuguese were given permission by Akbar, the Mughal emperor, to build a town in Hooghly.

In the year 1579, the Portuguese built a port on the banks of the river Hooghly as well as a fort. They enlisted the services of a band of Augustinian Friars, then the largest religious body in Goa. The following year, Captain Pedro Tavares started preaching Catholic faith publicly with the permission of the emperor. Thus the Bandel Church was constructed in the year 1599.

The first Church was burnt in the sack of Hooghly by the Moors in 1632. The keystone with the initial year  of construction “1599” had been preserved and built into the gate of the new Church erected by John Comes de Soto in the year 1661. It is dedicated to Nossa Senhora di Rosarioo and contains a monastery once occupied by Augustian friars the last of whom died in the year  1869.  

A ship’s mast stands in font of the Church. This was presented to the Church by the Captain of a vessel. It is said that the ship encountered a storm in the Bay of Bengal and its rescue was attributed to Mary. The Church has three altars, several tombstones, an organ, a wide cemented layout, a beautiful garden with blooming flowers and greeneries and a Shrine to Mary.

Interior of the Church is well-lit with natural Sunlight and decorated with beautiful photographs, paintings and inscriptions from holy Bible. The grandeur, architecture and ethereal interior decoration of the building are really splendid. One can also have a wider panoramic view of the Bandel city from the roof-top of the Church. The Church is open for public viewing from 8am in the morning to 5 pm. In the evening.

In a nutshell the place is really a enjoyable and holy tourist spot.

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Image : Glass Painting in Bandel Basilica, WB, India

Photo by : Asis K. Chatterjee (Durgapur, WB, India)

Source : Flickr Dot Com