CSI Home Church is one of the largest and oldest churches in Asia. It was built in 1819 under the supervision of Rev. William Tobias Ringeltaube, a Prussian who had come to

Nagercoil Nagercoil, natively spelt as Nāgarkovil (, "Temple of the Nāgas", or Nagaraja-Temple), is a Municipal Corporation city and the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state, India. Situated close to the tip of the ...

via

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

and Rev Charles Mead. The land on which the church was built was donated by the then British Travancore resident, General

John Munro, 9th of Teaninich John Munro (June 1778 – 25 January 1858) of the H.E.I.C.S was a Scottish soldier and administrator who served as Resident and Diwan of the States of Travancore and Cochin between 1810 and 1819. Early life John Munro, fourth son of Captain ...

, who had acted as a catalyst between the Missionary and the government of

and the Kingdom of

Travancore The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...

. This helped in the Theological Education for about two Centuries. The church hosted the wedding of linguistic scholar

Robert Caldwell Robert Caldwell (7 May 1814 – 28 August 1891) was a British missionary and linguist. A missionary for the London Missionary Society, he arrived in Company Raj, British India at age 24, and studied the local language to spread the word of the ...

in 1844. He died 28 August 1891, and was buried in

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest munici ...

."Renovated house of Caldwell inaugurated"
/ref>

Architecture

The building is in Greek style is . This is one of the oldest and biggest of the Protestant churches in South India. The edifice can provide accommodation for nearly 2500 people at a time. Nagercoil

References

{{Reflist Churches in Kanyakumari district Church of South India church buildings in India