Kochi: St Francis Church

After completing the usual “leaving the port red tape formalities,” we departed the terminal to find our guide Gopah waiting for us … with an air conditioned van that we knew would be a cool haven for us in between our scheduled stops.

Our first stop was the St Francis Church … billed as the first European church in India. It is presumed that it was built by the Franciscan friars who accompanied the Portuguese expedition in 1500. When the Dutch came here in 1663, they converted it into a Protestant church. It remained as such until they, in turn, surrendered it to the British in 1804 and the church began serving the Anglican community. Today it is part of the Church of South India.

One of the church’s claims to fame is that Vasco de Gama was buried here. Until, that is, his body was moved to Portugal. Because he died in Kochi, however, his grave here is still preserved. A bright blue sign with an arrow made it easy to find the grave inside the church.

I found the whitewashed façade reminiscent of the old mission churches we’ve seen in the American southwest. The interior was simple … no heavy gold ornamentation here. The white panels hanging from the ceiling, Gopah told us, were an ingenious fan system to circulate the air over the congregation. Though operated by electricity now, back in the day people stood outside the church, pulling on ropes to move the fans by hand.

After our visit to the church, we wandered around the affluent neighborhood for a bit. The residences and grounds were well maintained; lots of colorful trees, including some cannonball trees with the flowers in bloom.Read more