It is said
that you can make three wishes when you visit a new church.
Last week we
had been to the Cathedral at New Delhi (Gol Dak Khana) on Easter day.
Was impressed by the way it is maintained with no major changes from the time it was built. Even the distance between the pews was something to be appreciated as it gave enough leg space as well as space for kneeling.
The Sacred
Heart Cathedral was the second Catholic Church built in Delhi by the O.F.M. Cap
priests.
Out of the
eight architects invited to submit their plans, the one by Mr Henry Med was
finally selected.
The benches
too were designed by Mr Med and was made by a Chinese Catholic at a cost of Rs
75/- each.
There are
many stories about how the church came up, including the donations from Japan
and China.
One day an
unknown young man came to meet Fr Luke. He left after leaving a short message: “withdraw your money from the bank for it is
going to crash” Fr Luke did not question the veracity of the message, and
withdrew his building fund from the Alliance Bank. The day after the Church
building fund was withdrawn, the bank indeed crashed.
The mural of
the last supper is also unique. It is one of those rare ones in which Judas is
not shown. The Capuchin Friars working at that time in Agra Archdiocese were
used as models for the Apostles and Jesus. The names of the Apostles whom these
Fathers represent are painted below the mural. For example Fr Basil, portraying Jesus was an
Irish.
The choir
loft used to house a massive pipe organ which was functional till the early
seventies
For such a
big and renowned church I found that the sound system was not up to the mark
and there was some sort of an echo or reverberation. Later while reading the
history of the church I found the reason for the echo. The dome was so designed that it used to
enhance the voice of the celebrant or preacher . The architecture of the
thirties had no way of foreseeing the acoustic needs of the electronic era.
During the seventies the church consulted many companies including Philips to
make the sound system effective. It looks like the mystery of feedback of the
sound system could not be fully resolved.
I got to
photograph the place at night. The sunflowers are sort of confused (don’t know
which side to face)
I am always
fascinated by the pulpit of the churches I visit (if there is one that still
stands) The pulpit is not in use now anywhere in the world for almost half a century.
The woodwork of the pulpit in this Cathedral is simple but elegant.
Compare this
with the one I clicked at Brussels (Belgium) What intricate work.
And the one
at Notre Dame Paris
Here is the
simplest one I found at a Cathedral near Normandy (France) The idea was that
the priest should have an elevated place for his sermon.
And here is
the one depicted by our own cartoonist Mario Miranda with a humorous twist to
it.
