Place · neo-Gothic cathedral · India
St Philomena's Cathedral, Mysuru
Also known as St. Philomena's Church, Mysore, Cathedral of St. Joseph and St. Philomena, St. Joseph's Cathedral, Mysore
St Philomena's is the Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Mysore, a neo-Gothic church whose foundation stone Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV laid in 1933 on the site of an 1843 church. Designed by a Frenchman named Daly with Cologne Cathedral as its model, it raises twin spires 175 feet high and is counted among the tallest churches in Asia. A relic of Saint Philomena, obtained in 1926, lies in a catacomb beneath the main altar.
- Date
- 1933–None
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Patron dynasty
- Wadiyar
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 12.321, 76.658
Worth knowing
Some of the female statues inside are carved wearing saris, and the Hindu maharaja who laid the stone said the church would stand on 'Divine compassion and the eager gratitude of men'.
About the place
Placed at the coordinates given on the Wikipedia article.
Wikipedia's lead dates the building to 1936 while recording the foundation stone in 1933; the completion date is not given precisely.
Connections (3)
- Site withinMysuru
St Philomena's is the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Mysore and stands in Mysuru on the site of a church first built in 1843, in the reign of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III. Its twin spires, 175 feet high, rise over the city; the relic of Saint Philomena obtained in 1926 lies in a catacomb beneath the main altar, and some of the female statues in the church are dressed in saris, a blend of the Gothic and the local.
- PatronageKrishnaraja Wadiyar IV
The cathedral rose in the reign of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV. In 1926 his private secretary, T. Thumboo Chetty, obtained a relic of Saint Philomena from the apostolic delegate, and Father Cochet asked the maharaja's help in building a church to house it. The Hindu maharaja laid the foundation stone on 28 October 1933 and declared that the church would be built on a double foundation of divine compassion and human gratitude.
- Site adjacencyMysore Palace
St Philomena's stands about two kilometres north of the Mysore Palace, and both belong to the reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV. The palace, commissioned in his name in 1897 after a fire and completed in 1912, was renovated with a new east-facing durbar hall in the early 1930s; in the same years, on 28 October 1933, the maharaja laid the foundation stone of the Gothic cathedral, so the two buildings mark one ruler's city in two architectural languages.
Sources
Wikipedia, "St. Philomena's Cathedral, Mysore".
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