English
Saint Augustine's Church and Yard
Ramapuram, Kerala, India
Religious Architecture
Due to the remarkable complexity and exoticism of its architecture, the church at Ramapuram is undoubtedly is one of the most interesting cases of the reciprocal cultural and artistic exchange between Portuguese and Indian architecture. Standing on top of a hill, one reaches the church by way of a huge open space with a large granite cross in the middle. A wide stairway leads to the interior of second open space that is surrounded by walls. The front section of this wall is a façade of an elaborate architectural composition with a series of doors and gates that are symmetrically framed by two graceful houses that have verandas of a sophisticated wooden structure and hip roofs that rise at each end of the wall. As in the temples, it was here that the musicians, who belonged to a lower caste and were not allowed into the yard, played during the ceremonies. But it is the originality and exuberance of the design of the two large portals in this wall that endows the whole with an almost unparalleled character. Being in the wall that links the two churches that stand in the interior of the second yard, these portals confer an architectural unity and a processional character to the complex that has close affinities with Hindu temples, which tend to be composed of several buildings dedicated to different gods. Standing side by side, but of different sizes, the smaller church is the original one and today is used as a cemetery. The smallness of the church led to its being replaced with a bigger one, the period of the latter’s construction being simultaneous with the elaborate arrangement of the architectonic whole. The first, smaller church, however, manifests a greater aesthetic quality due to its façade and Mannerist design. Tuscan columns at each end form a simple, robust frame for the composition of the five-section façade. Corinthian columns lend visual emphasis to the central section of the façade, where we can observe an elaborate decoration of low reliefs. A testimony to its age, the cemetery-church has a characteristic tower with a hip roof over the chancel. This structure emphasises the place of the altar, once more in perfect harmony with Hindu temples. The present, more recent, church follows a simpler Mannerist structure and a design that brings to mind that of Portuguese influence of the Mannerist era in the later part of the 18th century. The southern façade of the church, however, boasts a beautiful gallery of Tuscan columns and an elaborately designed wooden veranda that accentuates the refinement with which this architecture ripened. The interiors of both churches have a single nave and a triumphal arch leading to the high altar with lateral altar pieces. Mention must be made of the paintings on the beams and trusses of the roof and the carved wood decoration.