Did you know
When the Protestant Dutch captured Cochin from the Roman Catholic Portuguese in 1663, they demolished almost every grand Catholic church in the region but spared the Cathedral of Santa Cruz. They used it as a warehouse for sugar from Batavia (Jakarta), cinnamon from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), nutmegs, cloves, pepper, and iron, and turned its high tower into a military flagstaff. Dutch records also say that on weekdays, during special emergencies, it was used as a slave godown to hold enslaved people who had been captured and sold.
Church · Fort Kochi
Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica, Fort Cochin
A granite pillar from 1505 stands at its southeastern corner.
Free · 190 m from Princess Street
Read the full story The Painter Who Died Four Days Before His Church Opened: Santa Cruz Basilica, Fort Kochi
More about Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica, Fort Cochin
5 of 8- Did you knowPope John Paul II made the church a basilica by a decree dated 23 August 1984.
- Did you knowThe ceiling paintings show scenes from the Via Crucis, the Stations of the Cross.
- Did you knowThe Dutch spared the church after taking Kochi in 1663 and used it as an arms storehouse.
- Did you knowOne granite pillar from the original church is preserved at the southeast corner of the basilica grounds.
- Did you knowThe foundation stone of Santa Cruz was laid in May 1505, on the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross.