Saint Anne Church

Talaulim, Goa, India
1681--1689
Prayers and services continue at St. Anne Church as they have since the late seventeenth century. The white-washed, five-story church is a typical, and yet extraordinary, example of the Indian Baroque of the Portuguese colonial period. Unlike the naves of European baroque churches that usually have one entablature crowning a single order of pilasters, St. Anne's contains two orders, the result of novel visual and architectural tricks. Stone and wood interior surfaces are embellished with native Indian floral motifs--lotuses, palm leaves, and tropical flowers and fruits--and the high-reaching vault incorporates Gothic and Romanesque themes. Despite an active congregation, St. Anne's is marked by numerous structural problems that threaten its viability. A major longitudinal crack runs the length of the vault, water seeps through broken roof tiles damaging plaster walls and woodwork, and the staircase of a cracked belltower is too weak to use. Once these and other repairs are made, a regular and rigorous program of maintenance can be enforced. But the Indian government, which owns the edifice, lacks the funds to restore this and the many other important colonial monuments of Goa.