Santhome Cathedral Chennai & Marina Beach

santhome cathedral chennai

Santhome Cathedral Chennai

Santhome Cathedral Chennai was originally built in the 16th century by the Portuguese explorers, and then rebuilt again with the status of a cathedral by the British in 1893.

santhome cathedral chennai
Santhome Cathedral Chennai

It was designed in Neo-Gothic style which was very popular amongst the British architects in the late 19th century.

santhome cathedral chennai
View from the main door

St. Thomas arrived in Kerala from Palestine in 52 A.D. and preached till his martyrdom in 72 AD. The basilica is built over the site where he is believed to have been interred.

santhome cathedral chennai
Pulpit

San Thome Cathedral
Stained glass

Marina Beach

Marina Beach, one of the largest urban beaches in the world, lies along both the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. The 13 Km long marina was built by the Portuguese in 1886 to connect Fort St. George to Santhome Cathedral.

marina beach
Fishing boat

There are Olive Ridley turtle nests along the Neelangarai section of the beach.

marina beach
Boat lot

marina beach

Architecture buffs should check out the impressive section of Indo-Saracenic buildings which is along the opposite side of the Marina.

One Response to Santhome Cathedral Chennai & Marina Beach

  1. Paramvir Singh September 6, 2014 at 5:45 am #

    This is so nice. Chennai, they say, has the second largest collection of colonial buildings after Kolkata. Such a lot of heritage architecture… wish we could preserve it all…

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