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The Chapel Of St. Catherine, Goa
General Information
Location:- Old Goa, Panjim, Goa
Further to the west of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi is the chapel of
St. Catherine. Built of laterite blocks it has a tower on either side of the
façade.
The chapel in the interior, having only one altar is plain. Construction of
The Chapel The chapel was rebuilt in 1552 on the remains of an earlier structure,
built in 1510 by Afonso de Albuquerque to commemorate his entry into the city
on St. Catherine's Day. The earlier chapel was enlarged in 1550 by
the Governor George Cabral, who put up an inscribed slab, which when translated,
reads as follows: "Here in this place was the doorway through which Governor
Afonso de Albuquerque entered and took this city from the Mohammadans on the
day of St. Catherine in the year 1510 at the
expenses of his Highness."
Thus the chapel was built on the spot where stood the gates of this city under
the Muslim rule. This chapel was raised to the state of the cathedral by
Pope Paul III by a Bull issued in 1534 and it remained so till the new Cathedral
was constructed.
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