St. Catherine Chapel, Old Goa, Goa

The St. Catherine Chapel, Old Goa, Goa is an imposing chapel among the scattered religious monuments at Old Goa. Lost in the gorgeous melee of mammoth architectural delights at Old Goa is St Catherine’s Chapel which is known as the first ever Christian ecclesiastical building in the region.

While it is not on the main tourist circuit due to the presence of the much grander and larger Basilica of Bom Jesus and the Se Cathedral, this beautiful and cozy chapel has tremendous historical significance.

Official records suggest that the chapel was built by the first Portuguese Governor, Afonso de Albuquerque in the early 1500 in honor of St Catherine, after he emerged victorious in his military campaigns against Bijapur’s  Adil Shah whole territory included Goa. The Chapel is a visual treat due to its elegant towers which flank it and its mica shelled mirror.

Such was the significance of the chapel for the Portuguese as one of their earliest milestones of their Asian conquest that a subsequent Portuguese Governor got an inscription made with the following

‘Here on this spot and by the door entered the Governor Afonso de Albuquerque who conquered the city from the moors and on that day dedicated to St Catherine in the year 1510 in whose homage and memory.