the goan I network
PANAJI
President of the Panaji Confraria Joseph Pinto on Friday said that the roof of the historic Dom Lourenco chapel in Panaji situated behind Hotel Mandovi will be repaired only once the rains subside. The tiled roof of the 19th century chapel caved in sometime last week and the Confraria, which has full ownership rights of the chapel, has been exploring options to get it repaired. (The Confraria is the body within the Church which manages the church’s properties and assets.)
However, Pinto told The Goan that the contractors said that the repair work cannot be done during the rains, and would be started only after August 15. The Confraria, in the meantime, contacted the fire brigade and got the chapel covered with tarpaulin. “If the fire brigade hadn’t stepped in, the dome could also have caved in,” Pinto said.
Architect Tahir Noronha explained the importance of the chapel saying, “It’s an important building architecturally because it is one of less than ten heritage churches/chapels in Goa with a real dome. It is also important culturally because the procession for the Panaji feast pauses in front of the chapel.”
Noronha said that the construction of the chapel was between 1800 and 1850, around the same time that the grid of Panaji was being made. The chapel was a private chapel, most recently owned by the Quadros family, currently based in Canada, Pinto said. When the family came down to Goa and saw that lots of renovation needed to be done, and they could not maintain it, they gave the ownership rights of the chapel to the Confraria.
To preserve the chapel, the Confraria approached the Town and Country Planning Department (TCP) who sanctioned around Rs 21 lakh for its renovation, Pinto said. Work was supposed to start last year, but due to a change in government, the work remained pending.
The Confraria is now waiting for the funds so that renovation work can start. Panjim MLA Atanasio Monserrate has agreed to help the Confraria by following up the matter with the TCP, Pinto added.
