EnglishPiedade Costa
Majorda, Goa, India
Housing
The unity of the various buildings comprising this architectural complex makes the Piedade Costa house one of the most interesting examples of plain [chã] tradition architecture in Goa. The house stands out at the end of a large palm-ringed yard with central 16th century monumental cross and is flanked by a chapel with similarly classical lines. In the two-floor rectangular architectural programme the main floor is marked by a succession of full-length windows. The façade is flanked only by two large pilasters, whose sobriety and formal restraint indicate a clear reference to a chã aesthetic dating to the 17th century. Likewise pertaining to 17th century tradition is the entrance gate, which opens onto a walled side patio comprising an intermediate space marking discontinuity between exterior and interior, where in Portugal the ladies of the house descended from litters and in Goa from palanquins, without being seen from the outside. In the Piedade da Costa’s case, this patio gave the house an interior and private connection to the chapel. The chapel is quite large for a residence. Dedicated to Our Lady of Pity, it presents a façade with two symmetrical towers flanking a central body topped by back-curved pediment, evidently restored at a later date, but which does not alter the composition of the whole. The elaborate architectural design of the interior, with ample nave covered by a coffered barrel vault, reveals exemplary care and quality for a private chapel. The sacristy maintains an altar on 17th century lines which seems to have been the chapel’s old main altar. Between chapel and cross is a large well that supplies water to the whole house. But the most interesting aspect of this house is perhaps the autonomy of the main volume compared to those for servants or services. Although the main body has two floors as per European tradition, Indian rules made it impossible for servants from lower castes to enter the interiors of their masters’ houses. This led to the latter being given two ground floor wings where the limits were rigorously defined. Although on the outside it appears to follow Portuguese tradition, life on the inside kept up the purest Hindu tradition. On the upper floor the salon was used for special moments as a sadery, while the household’s day-to-day routine was conducted on the ground floor.