Abstract
Over the last century, monsoons in Goa have become more intense, with an increase of over 68% in rainfall (Goa State Biodiversity Board, 2019, p. 42). Such effects of climate change are devastating to architectural heritage, especially those structures built using materials like laterite, a weaker stone, vulnerable to rapid deterioration when it is left exposed. This is the precise problem concerning the Basilica of Bom Jesus, a sixteenth century building that is still in use. The monument which houses the relics of St. Francis Xavier is one of the most important cultural icons of Goa, as evidenced by its ongoing use and also its iconic representation in visual culture. While research may be available regarding the effects of climate change and architecture in the tropics generally, little pertains to the specificities of Indo-Portuguese architecture and especially heritage buildings. My article seeks to make an intervention in this regard, focusing on the effects of climate change with regard to the conservation of Bom Jesus. Considering the adverse effects of climate change on built heritage, architectural conservation in Goa cannot be merely about preserving cosmetic appearances, but rather must involve safeguarding monuments against major structural damage.
Highlights
Over the last century, monsoons in Goa have become more intense, with an increase of over 68% in rainfall (Goa State Biodiversity Board, 2019, p. 42)
ETropic 20.2 (2021) Special Issue: Tropical Imaginaries and Climate Crisis he Basilica of Bom Jesus, a sixteenth century religious building that is still in use, is located in Goa, a tiny coastal state in South Asia bordered by the Arabian Sea
Xavier died in China, it was Goa – capital of the Portuguese Empire in Asia – that received his mortal remains in 1554,1 which were believed to be miraculously preserved from blemish (Gupta, 2014, p. 27)
Summary
A generation of Goans has grown accustomed to seeing the Basilica’s exposed laterite walls, but this is not the way the building was designed, nor the way it looked until about 70 years ago (Kandolkar, 2020b, para. 8). It was the former Director of the Department of Monuments in Portugal – architect-restorer, Baltazar da Silva Castro – appointed by the colonial government to Goa, who in the 1950s brought about the dramatic transformation of the external appearance of the Basilica by having the render removed and leaving the underlying laterite stone exposed In removing the ‘skin’ of buildings, such as Bom Jesus in Old Goa, da Silva Castro was able to transform architecture into relics of Portugal’s colonial past. The ASI misinterprets the exposed-laterite appearance of the Basilica as belonging to the ‘Portuguese’ colonial period, even though the monument was rendered and whitewashed for most of its life (see Figure 3) Such simplistic categorisation of buildings based on a political timeline is problematic because the architecture of Bom Jesus did not remain the same even during the colonial period. Maintaining the exposed appearance of the Bom Jesus shows that the ASI fails to grasp the complexity of the architectural and restoration history of the monument, especially its transformation during the dictatorial period of Estado Novo
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