I visited Mangalore in 2011 to attend an official meeting. During my stay at Mangalore, one of my friends' suggested me to visit St. Aloysius Church. The St. Aloysius Church is a part of huge complex of St. Aloysius College. The magnificent building itself speaks about its glorious past as well as present.
My friend described the church as beautiful and she also told me that there are big paintings on the walls. Since she didn't explain much about the church therefore, I had no clue about it. In my imagination, I saw paintings hanging on the walls as we have seen at other places.
As I never travel without a Camera and if I am refused to click a picture, I normally don't visit that place. Same thing happened during my visit to church also.
As I never travel without a Camera and if I am refused to click a picture, I normally don't visit that place. Same thing happened during my visit to church also.
I was told by the guide Mr. Pereira that no camera is allowed inside the church so I refused to enter the Church. But on second thought, I decided to have a glimpse of the Church from inside. The moment I entered the Church, I was just awestruck by the beauty of this magnificent building. I begged the guide to let me click atleast one picture, but he didnt allow me. The guide at Church told me that one can click pictures with the analogue camera and that too with a prior permission.
During my visit to this Church in 2011, I decided to visit this church with my analogue camera and yes will also obtain a permission. I got another chance to pay a visit to this magnificent building in 2018. But could not get permission as well as my analogue camera.
The first picture is of St. Aloysius College. This college was built in 1882 and it provides a big number of undergraduate courses in Arts and post graduate courses in all the streams. Even there are few courses in Research work also.
St Aloysius college, standing tall with its pristine charm.
It has various famous luminaries to its credit.
The southern wing of the building formed the chapel
as a place of prayer for the students.
Anyhow I clicked the pictures of the buildings from outside and purchased a book and bunch of picture post cards. I scanned those picture post cards and now I am sharing those images here. The material of this post is also from the 'Guide to the Chapel' I purchased at the Church. This Guide to the Chapel was prepared by Fr. Denis Albuquerque in 1931.
The paintings on the ceiling are canvases and on the walls are frescoes.
The following picture is of The Sanctuary- the Main Alter of St. Aloysius College Chaple
This Church is special not in the terms of religion alone, but the 3 D effects of the paintings in the Church. In the above picture there seems to be two marble statues on each sides of the alter, whereas these are just paintings. These are monochrome paintings using Chiaroscuro technique. Similarly, the pillars in the church are also painted which appears to be made of granite.
The central row of paintings on the ceiling depicts the life of Aloysius Gonzaga to whom this College and Chapel is dedicated. Aloysius was the eldest son and heir of the Marquis of Castiglione in Italy. He wanted to lead a religious life in order to serve his fellow men. Therefore, he gave his right to the marquisate to his younger brother. This event is depicted in the third painting from the top in the following picture. Aloysius, dressed in black, hands over his sword to his younger brother. His mother presides over the ceremony and the lawyer and his clerk write down he deed and curious servants are witnessing the event.
Aloysius as a little bit 'Preaching' to his town folks
in the following picture.
in the following picture.
This picture was released as Postal Stamp in 2002.
In this Panting, Aloysius renouncing his title as 'Marquis'.
He is handling over his birth right to his younger brother.
On the panels of either side of the sloping portion of the ceiling portrayed the Apostles. This is St. Peter the head of the Apostles, painted on sloping portion of the ceiling. .
In the picture below is painted St. Andrew seated on the Cross.
Juan de Britto (Portuguese), Apostle of Inculturation, the first missionary to wear the dress of a sanyasi as a sign of inculturation. He was a scholar who studied Sanskrit, Tamil and Indian customs.
The Blessed Trinity
Nativity : The visit of the Shepherds. Here in the picture below, the light and shadow is painted marvelously. Moreover, the whole painting is shown as a curtain where the intricacies of lace and border are painted so precisely.
The adoration of Magi where Mary is sitting holding the Child for the devout adoration of the Magi who came from the East, following the star.
Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The Child is presented to the Lord in the Temple by Mary and Joseph on the fortieth day (a cage with a pair of turtle doves-the offering of a poor Mother on the day of her purification). St. Simon receives the Child in his arms. On the left of the picture is holy Widow Anna, also prophesying about the child.
Baptisma of the Jesus in the River Jordan is shown in the picture below. Jesus, 30 years old, is baptized by St. John the Baptist, in the River Jordan near which people used to hear the preaching of John and receives the Baptism of Penance.
Cleansing the temple of money lenders. Seeing the Temple turned into a place of commerce, Jesus with an improvised whip of cords, drove away the trader. Depicted the painting below.
In the painting below, the Wedding feast of Cana, the first Miracle, where Mary seeing that wine had run short, gently informed her Son. He changed the water in the Six Pitchers into wine. The painter has included many minor details of a wedding: musicians, people carrying food, children playing, little dogs under the table.
The following painting depicts the first multiplication of loaves, where Jesus feeds 5,000 people with five leaves of bread. In Hindu Mythology also we can find such stories.
The Crucification of Jesus between two thieves on Cavalry. The sun was darkened at the hour of 3 pm Mary, the Mother of Jesus and Magdalen are at the foot of the Cross. A soldier, Longinus, pierces with a lance and "opens the side of Jesus", and immediately out came blood and water, though He was already dead. Here also the painting is shown as a stretched curtain with borders hanging from the ceiling.
Mural depicting Mark the Evanglist
Mural depicting St. Angela Merici born 1474, founded the Ursulines, who living in their homes, sacrifice themselves for the poor, the ignorant and the affected and work for the education of children.
In the following mural Aloysius is shown reconciling
his uncle and brother
A cherub holding the garlands at the foot of the Apostles is depicted in the following mural.
There are two types of painting in the Chapel: Fresco on plaster and oil on canvas. A fresco is painted on freshly applied wet lime plaster walls. The artist used colours made by grinding dry powder pigments in pure water. The colours get embedded in the lime plaster (carrier) as it dries up. Frescos painting is ideal for making murals because it lends itself to monumental style and is durable. But it demands a speedy execution and must be completed when the plaster is still wet. Frescos cover about 600 square meters of the walls of the Chapel. For an oil painting, the artist used colours made by mixing dry powder pigments with select varieties of linseed oil. The canvas is made of pure linen of strong close weave. All the paintings on the ceilings in the Chapel (about 400 square Meters) are in oil on canvas.
Since, the paintings are more than 100 years old, therefore, these are tend to get damaged with the passage of time and climate and other factors. These are being restored. During my current visit a team of ITACH-ICI Lucknow was restoring the works. I talked to one of the guys who was graduated from JJ College of Arts, Mumbai. I didn't have much time to discuss with him in details that how do they handle such work, but the restoration work is described in the guide.
As explained in the guide, the canvases of the ceiling were loaded with dust, the weight of which had caused the paintings to distend so that the stitches of the canvases had given way. They were taken down with the help of a special cradle. The dust was removed, the canvas ws taken off the frame, the pieces were restitched, the joints were reinforced with tapes. After restructuring the canvas on the frame, the paintings were put back in place.
There was also a layer of calcium carbonate crystals giving the paintings a chalky appearance. They had to be cleaned using special chemicals. Earlier, the work of restoration was done by the specialists of ITACH-ICI Lucknow from 1991 to 1994.
The following picture gives an example of restoration work.
The painter Antonio Moscheni S. J. was born in a village called Stezzano near Bergamo in Italy on January 17, 1854. He had been trained in the famous Academia Carraaa in Meganeo. He studied under his able masters and soon acquired considerable proficiency in the art of painting. He then went to Rome to study the masterpieces of the Vatican. Fresco painting now became his passion. In 1899 Antonio renounced the prospects of a brilliant career and because a religious in the Society of Jesus. But his religious superior did not wish his talents to be buried. They ordered him to paint several churches in his native place as also in Albania and the then Yugoslavia. He was then sent to Mangalore to paint the Chapel of St. Aloysius College. It took him a two and a half years to cover the total area of 829 sq. meters, single handed with frescos and oil paintings.
Later he painted the Holy Name Cathedral in Mumbai the erstwhile Bombay. On November 15, 1905 he died while painting the cathedral of Cochin.
This world, though, has different creeds, castes, culture, religions but is a big joint family. Like members in a joint family contribute their share of earnings, bliss and happiness for the cause of family. Similarly, every country of these seven continents have contributed some thing or the other in all the major countries around the world. This contribution has become an integral part of a country. Though these Churches, Mosques and other buildings were built by the foreigners for a purpose but these have enriched the cultural heritage of this country called INDIA.
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