St. Francis Church

After Afonso de Albuquerque was given permission to build Fort Emmanuel, they built a church in 1503. The church with a wooden structure, dedicated to St. Bartholomew. Francisco de Almeida, the Portuguese viceroy, was allowed in 1506, by the Raja of Cochin to reconstruct wooden buildings in stone and masonry. The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama died in Kochi in 1524 on his third visit to India. His body was originally buried in this church, but after fourteen years his remains were moved to Lisbon and now located at Jeronimos Monastery. When the Dutch arrived, they converted it to a Protestant Church, till it passed into British hands, and came to be called the ‘St. Francis Church’.

Memorial and former tomb of Vasco Da Gama

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