Gloria Church or Our Lady of Glory Church ( Portuguese: ''Nossa Senhora de Gloria'') is built in 1911-13 on one of the oldest

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church sites in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

; its predecessor was built by the Portuguese

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

in 1632. The church is situated in

Byculla Byculla (ISO: Bhāykhaḷā; pronunciation: ʱaːjkʰəɭaː is an area of South Mumbai. Location Byculla is neighboured by Nagpada and Mumbai Central and Mahalaxmi on the west; Agripada, Jacob Circle on the north-west: Chinchpokli to the no ...

, Mumbai. In 2019, the restoration project for the church received the Award of Merit under the

UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards (since 2000) are given with as the strategic purpose of UNESCO with in the region Asia Pacific. The objective is to motivate the protection of Cultural Heritage sites, which are initiated by any individual organ ...

History

The original Gloria Church, ''Nossa Senhora da Glória'', was built in 1632 at the foot of the Mazagaon hill. This

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

church was funded by the De Souza e Lima family, who owned the

Mazagaon Mazagaon, also spelled Mazgaon and Mazagon (Portuguese rule Mazagão), and pronounced by the Catholics as 'Mazgon' or 'Maz-a-gon' and the Marathi-speakers as Mazhgav, is one of the seven islands of Mumbai. References ;Notes {{reflist ;Sou ...

island which they procured from the

King of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Through the ...

in 1572. The old church was demolished in 1911 and the present one, built at

, was opened in 1913.

Architecture

The modern Gloria church was built in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

Gothic Revival style. The crowning achievement in church-building was the erection of Nossa Senhora da Gloria at Byculla (1912), an imposing structure in English Gothic style.

Popular culture

The church’s beauty has inspired many filmmakers to shoot their films on its premises. Prominent among them was

Manmohan Desai Manmohan Desai (26 February 1937 – 1 March 1994) was an Indian film producer and director. He was one of the most successful filmmaker of the 70s and 80s. Desai is now considered one of most influential film director of Bollywood and a pionee ...

’s Amar Akbar Anthony, released in 1977.

References

{{reflist Roman Catholic churches in Mumbai Roman Catholic churches completed in 1911 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in India Religious organizations established in the 1630s 1632 establishments in Portuguese India UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards winners