English
Bishop’s Palace
Kollan [Coulão/Quilon], Kerala, India
Housing
he construction of an Bishop’s Palace in Kollam has to do with the fact that with the Dutch invasion of 1661 the Bishop of Kochi was obliged to leave that city and, in an attempt to maintain his jurisdiction over his diocese, which at the time covered the whole of the Malabar Coast down to Kanyakumari [Cape Comorin], decided to settled in Kollam. Built at the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th, the importance and significance of this palace within the framework of the architectural heritage of Portuguese influence lies in its Indo-Portuguese typology which, taking root throughout the 17th century, spread to several areas of southern India and has been left for posterity. The palace has two floors, the main façade being a vast open, colonnaded veranda resting on a gallery of thick, quadrangular pillars, which is in keeping with big parochial residences. The palace has an air of grandeur and it is natural that it reproduces certain elements of the former Bishop’s Place of Kochi. The palace is laid out around a huge quadrangular courtyard, the ground floor being the administrative centre for the running of the diocese. The residential body of the palace, flanked by a chapel, faces a large open space surrounded by high walls. These walls were to make the chapel autonomous and prevent the public from entering the palace. Access to the chapel from the palace was made through the first floor, a clear hierarchic separation of functions and spaces. The façade of the chapel is divided into three sections by pilasters, in a plan of Mannerist inspiration of which Saint Sebastian’s Church at Charava, to the north of Kollam, is the last example. The chapel is rectangular, with access to the chancel being made through a crossing arch. The chancel houses a gilt wood nineteenth-century retable of traditional, late baroque Portuguese composition.