Place · commemorative chapel · India
Chapel of St Catherine, Old Goa
Also known as Capela de Santa Catarina
A small, austere chapel built by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510 to mark the spot where his troops entered Old Goa after taking the city from the Bijapur sultanate on St Catherine's Day (25 November 1510). The simplest of the Old Goa monuments, rebuilt in laterite in 1550, raised to Cathedral status in 1534 before the Se Cathedral replaced it. UNESCO World Heritage.
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 15.504, 73.910
Connections (2)
- Site withinOld Goa
St Catherine Chapel is at the western edge of the Old Goa ensemble on the Mandovi.
- BuiltAfonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque built the Chapel of St Catherine at the gate of Old Goa in 1510 to mark the spot where his troops re-entered and took the city from the Bijapur sultan Yusuf Adil Shah on St Catherine’s Day (25 November). It was his personal votive dedication to the saint on whose feast day the second and successful siege of Goa was won — the chapel is the oldest surviving Portuguese-built structure in India.
Sources
Standard reference (Archaeological Survey of India).
Open Chapel of St Catherine, Old Goa in the repository →