Visit to St Mary’s Catholic Church in Lansdowne

We were on our second day in Lansdowne, Uttarakhand and we were on our way to see St John’s Church.

We kept walking, past our hotel, sometimes going up and sometimes down, zig-zag and round the hills. We reached a place where there were some monkeys, actually langurs, big ones. We didn’t know what to do because they were in our way. Somebody told us it was ok and the monkeys won’t hurt us (not so sure about that).

We had actually planned on stopping at St John’s Church first, and then go to St Marys Church. The people we met on the way also told us the church was very near. So we kept walking, but somehow we missed the first church and reached St Mary’s Church.

First thought in my mind – Old and Beautiful.

The place had an old world charm to it and I am a person who is always enthralled whenever I come around any old architecture or old buildings. And this Church, though small made me feel a sense of wonder of how it must have been in those days.

The outside was great but what about the inside. I couldn’t wait to get inside. I didn’t know what to expect. AND it was definitely not something I hoped for. No service, no preacher, no prayers, just a show with a projector and some old artifacts of the Garhwal Rifles. (Man, what is this!)

Though it is no longer a functional Church, it is very well maintained by the Garhwal Rifles. It is also one of the two Catholic Church in Lansdowne. The preaching in the Church had stopped long before Independence. But I felt happy going through the old pictures and reading some of the old stories.

In all the building was very grand and I enjoyed looking around the place. I kept wondering what kind of history this place might have had. Inside were some old photographs and pamphlets saying that there had been a Wedding in this church before Independence by the Britishers. Such a wonderful place for such a beautiful act.

A very memorable location, that I most definitely will be visiting again. 🙂