Mosque? Church? Temple? Western
or Eastern? Roman or Antiochene?
Some call the St. John's
Cathedral in Thiruvalla as Puttukuttipally
but I am in all praise for it ever since I decided to take a closer look at it
recently. Unlike Perumthachan's
temple pond this is not just an illusion; it is a good blend of all the
characteristics of sabha onto one structure. If one go a little closer the
outsides resembles typical Keralite temple architecture. But once inside it is
Roman Catholic in its cathedral-styled grandiosity but at the same time
Antiochene-Syrian in the settings.
Much of the beauty in any
Syrian church is in the characteristic bright red veils hiding the Sanctum
Sanctorum (Madbaha); here the reddishness goes great with the reddish-brown
woodwork that make up the whole of the madbaha.
And BTW this church enshrines
has some 5 Holy Relics.
Considering the atrocities
committed on some of the ancient churches of this region (a few of them being
as old as Christianity) this one stands out, in my view, as a very well thought
of design especially considering that this is very new construction. The Syro-Malankara
Catholic church authorities and/or the architects took pains to include all the
elements the sabha stands for while not in any way reducing it's modernity and
flambouyancy. When most of the old churches are losing their originality and
beauty this new one tries to bring them back.
Catholic, Antiochene and Keralite. Great work Brethren! For this, the
loads of church funds didn't go to waste.
4 comments:
Hi Mate,good prose,would appreciate it if you were a bit more frequent in your writings.
Thanks, yes I should write more frequently but as you know "Man does not live by blogs alone" :-) I am buried in work for the last 7 months.
Flip you aint a flop,you wont believe it but your site is referred for articles by a site nasrani.net.Pretty earnest people there,and since your a good traveller maybe you can add to the spice there with your thoughtful musings.Plus some of these guys are
doing some serious work regarding the geneology of St Thomas Christians.Seems there is a lot of Jewish blood in most of them
hey, Thanks for the info and for stopping by ;-)
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