St. Mary's Church, Fort St. George, Chennai

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St. Mary's Church is one of the oldest British buildings in India, and it is also considered the oldest Anglican Church East of Suez.


The British East India Company, which entered India around 1600 AD for trading activities, slowly occupied the entire nation and started ruling the county. Chennai, the erstwhile Madras, was one of the cities occupied by the British East India Company in their earlier years. Fort St. George was constructed by the British in the year 1639. The Secretariat of the Tamil Nadu state government is inside the fort. Apart from the secretariat building and various offices, the buildings having tourism importance are Museum and St. Mary's Church.
St. Mary's Church, Chennai

The British East India Company constructed St. Mary's Church in 1678-1680 AD. Similar to Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, there is a group called Anglicanism in the Christianity religion. The St. Mary's Church, located inside the Fort St. George of Madras/Chennai, is the oldest Anglican Church East of Suez. St. Mary's Church is perhaps the oldest British period building in India (excluding forts, if only buildings are considered).

The Church is historically significant. The ancient prayer house inside the Church solemnized the marriages of Robert Clive and Elihu Yale (Co-founder of the Yale University of USA). The site has many small statues,  plaques and memorials. The Baptisms have been taking place here since 1680 AD. The ancient font is still found.

The highlight of the Church is the church tower which is visible even from a long distance.

St. Mary's Church is one of the ancient British sites which is worth visiting. Don't miss this.

Happy travelling.
Entrance of St. Mary's Church

Baptism takes place here since 1680

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Comments

  1. injamavenThursday, June 12, 2014

    "Bulldog Bulldog, Bowwowwow. Eli Yale." [Yale U. fight song, written by Cole Porter] just thought you'd be amused. My, how Yale got around!.

    ReplyDelete

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