English
Chapel Of Our Lady Of Candelaria (Naroa)
Divar, Goa, India
Religious Architecture
The devotion to Our Lady of Candelaria is characteristic of fishermen and became relatively common in the Iberian Peninsula only in the 18th century. The Chapel of Our Lady of Candelaria or Purification on Divar Island is a round building covered by a hemispherical vault with skylight cupola. The exterior wall is articulated by pilasters topped above the cornice balustrade by ball pinnacles. A long nave in the form of a stone shed was recently added hidding the east-facing door giving access to the rotunda. Another shed-like construction hides the small sanctuary to the west. It is probable that the dedication to Our Lady of Candelaria dates to 1763, when the chapel was subject to major interventions on the initiative of Viceroy Manuel de Saldanha, Count of Ega (1758-1765). The windows and round oculi with scroll pediments we see ornamenting the rotunda’s perimeter may be ascribed to the tastes of that period. The original chapel was founded in 1543, perhaps dedicated to Our Lady of Pity; the devotion was later transferred to the main church of Divar. A century later, in 1633, the chapel must have been redone in the form we see today. The date is inscribed at the base of an image of Our Lady. Almost all the architectural moulding, especially the shafts and pinnacles, seems to be early 17th century. The rotunda’s entrance nevertheless seems to be from the middle of the previous century, dating perhaps to when the original chapel was founded. Two narrowshafted pilasters with plant motifs support a sharp triangular pediment above an overly weak frieze. Although this was just an isolated chapel, the building dedicated to Our Lady of Candelaria is significant in the context of architecture in the former Estado da Índia, where churches and chapels with central plans are rare, except in Goa’s Islands district. The Naroa chapel stands out from all other chapels or chapel vestiges with central plans on the Islands due to its size and formal perfection.