Island
Vypeen Island
Local tradition says the island rose from the swamp in 1341.
Vypeen Island lies across the water from Fort Kochi, and regular boats make the crossing. A Kochi Water Metro station on the island stands at the Vypin RoRo jetty, near Fort Kochi, and opened on 26 April 2023. A bridge built in 2004 by the Goshree Islands Development Authority also links the island to the mainland.
Kerala Tourism names four beaches on the island: Cherai, Kuzhuppilly, Puthuvype and Munambam. A smaller beach lies beside the lighthouse at Ochanthuruthu. The Church of Our Lady of Hope stands at Fort Vypin, where Vembanad Lake meets the Arabian Sea, with Fort Kochi on the other side. Njarakkal is the island’s business centre.
Heavy floods in 1341 formed the island. Portuguese settlers came in the 16th century. They built Pallipuram Fort on 27 September 1503, first in timber and then in stone by 1505. The fort is hexagonal and is the oldest European fort in India that still stands. The Church of Our Lady of Hope was consecrated in 1605.
Did you know
Vypin Island did not exist before 1341. A flood that destroyed the port at Kodungallur carved out the channel that created it.
When the Dutch prohibited Roman Catholic worship inside Fort Kochi, Catholic priests were banished across the backwater to the newly formed island of Vypeen. There they established the Church of Our Lady of Hope, whose sanctuary still contains the historic altar and old decorative screen from Fort Kochi’s original Franciscan church.
The tenacious mud bank of Narakkal, on Vypeen Island’s coast, acts like an immense spring or a stiff piece of jelly beneath the sea. It yields to rough ocean waves, absorbs their force, and keeps the surrounding water calm even during violent monsoons, creating a natural maritime haven.
Vypin is the 58th most densely populated island in the world.
A bridge built in 2004 by the Goshree Islands Development Authority connects Vypeen Island to the mainland.
The Vypin water metro station opened to the public on 26 April 2023.
The Church of Our Lady of Hope was consecrated in 1605 by Bishop Dom Andrea de Santa Maria.
Pallipuram Fort is the oldest existing European fort in India.
Portuguese sailors built Pallipuram Fort in timber on 27 September 1503, and rebuilt it in stone by 1505.
Heavy floods in 1341 formed Vypeen Island.
Drawn from OpenStreetMap, by its contributors.
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