Goa churches get ready for mammoth restoration

Several churches across Goa are heading for a massive restoration, a laborious and costly job undertaken once in 50-60 years.
The lifespan of interiors and antiquities in these churches built during Portuguese colonial rule in the coastal state, has now entered a phase where they require huge upkeep.
The restoration of wooden altars and gold-plated antiquities is mandated every 50-60 years, according to experts.
The church authorities are employing restoration experts who are working on these major projects.
"A protective coat needs to be given for altars while the interior design has several gold plate carvings which wither with time," Sadashiv Parab, working as a modeller with Goa State Museum, told PTI.

Four generations of Parabs have been working tirelessly for restoring paintings, antiquities and wooden altars in churches.

Goa has 180-odd churches and chapels spread across almost every corner of the state, which has 27 per cent Catholic population.
As per information available from Goa State Museum, each of the religious orders has its own style of architecture and motif.
"A typical church square generally has one or more piazza (square) cross, a Cristo Rei (Christ the King) monument and a grotto to our Lady. The square is often bounded by fourteen crosses of the via sacra (way of the cross)," a senior official said.

Goan churches belonging to 16th century era have undergone restoration several times, but post-liberation (1961), this is for the first time such an extensive exercise has been taken up.