Churches In India

St Marys Church Chennai

St. Mary’s church has the pride to be the oldest in South Asian region.   This is angelical church, situated near the fort museum.  The construction of this church was done in the year 1680.  Perhaps this is the oldest architecture of India which carries the stamps of British rule over India.  The specialty of this church is its, 5;’ thick walls like a fort.    The walls of the church are said to be explosion proof. Until the time, no piercing armament has developed such thickness.  One copy of the beautiful painting of Leonardo the Vinci is titled Last Supper is displayed here.  A very old copy of holy bible, which is as old as the church itself, is also kept here.   The timings of opening and closing of this church is 09:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs daily. 

History

Since the foundation year of Madras (1639), and upto 1678, all the religious services were restricted upto a small dining room. The initiative to construct the church was taken by the local public.  For construction, no prior approval was obtained from board of directors of the trust and a subscription came into existence for construction of the church.

The public contribution was unluckily restricted upto 805 Pagodas.  After necessary collection, the construction work was started from 25th March 1678.  This building was the shell proof building of that period.  The roof of the church was designed very technically.  After a continuous job of construction, it took the period of two years.  On 28/10/1680, the church was dedicated to the god and opened for common public by the Rev. Richard Portman.  On this occasion, the salutation of small arms and guns was given from the fort.  

Due to very typical and safe roof structure of the church building, the same was utilised as Army barrack for approximately two years starting from 1758 to 1759.  During the Karnataka war and once again when Nawab of Maysoor, Haider Ali started his invasion on the city in 18th century.

Architecture

There is confusion about the chief architect of the church.  Some people said Mr. Edward Foule who was the main Gunner of the Fort St. George, and some claim that Mr. William Dixon was the person behind the amazing design.   Two internal tunnels of approximately 12 Ft wide are inside the building.  The passageway of the church was utilised during 1884 for choir housing.

The western portion of that nave, a wide gallery is placed.  Some teak pillars shoulder this gallery.  Under this shelter, the seat of governor of that time was placed.  During 1761, this gallery was re-constructed to accommodate an organ and accordingly two staircases were attached with this gallery so that the gallery can be accessed from outer area of the church.  However, after a long period, this gallery was returned to its original size by reducing some portion.  After some time, the organ was also removed from this place.  New sanctuary building came into existence and accordingly the church building was altered.

On the western flank of the nave, a large tower was erected.  Sir John Goldbrough ordered this erection.  This tower was free and without touch to the church building but at a later stage, the same was connected to the main structure and thus added a special attraction as well as safety feature to the building.   During 19th century, on the eastern flank of passageway, two vestries were constructed.  Internally, the L&B portion of the building is 86’ x 56’.  A 3 ft thick partition separates the nave from the passageways.  Outer walls of the church are 4 ft thick.  The walls are shell proof.  This was originally designed to save the building during heavy storms.  The main feature of the architecture of this building is its roof.  This roof is approximately 4 ft thick and bomb – proof.  This roof was constructed in order to rebound the shells from the canons.   A point is to be noted here that the bomb proofing was done according to that period when the canons were not so sophistically designed like today’s equipment.   In the designing, the use of wood had also avoided in order to minimize the risk of fire.

Altar Piece

The beautiful painting, namely, The Last Supper is also there.  It is believed that the painting was created himself by the great painter Raphael.  When the British invaded the Pondicherry, the painting was taken along by the troops during 1761.

Church-Yard

No cemetery is there for burial.  All the persons who died have been buried in the nearby Guava Garden. This place is adjacent to the Governor’s House.  This place was situated at the existing place of High Court of the day.

During the period of second invasion of Madras by the French people, the British felt the great problem as in this area; the French took shelter from shelling and bombing.  Later the cemetery was re-shifted to another portion of this Island.   Some of the stones arranged aside the Nawab Haider Ali again removed the church during his invasion.   The Haider Ali’s army as Gun platform used the stones.

Important Ceremonies and Burials

The main hall of the building of this church is witness of many royal marriages namely, Robert Clive and Governor Elihu Yale, later who supported in establishment of Yale University in USA.  Some famous personalities are alo memorized here like Sir Thomas Munro, Lord Hobart, Sir Henery George Ward etc.

Various monuments are also placed inside the church including the statue of Sir Barry Close, who was appointed as deputy general in the reign of General Harris and the name of Closepet derived from his name.   The remains of Lt. Col. Joseph Moorhouse are also kept here.  The officer was killed during IIIrd war of British and Maysore. Famous bird artist Elizabeth is also the part of cemetery of this church.

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