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| Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Tiruchirappalli city, T N. trichyonline.in |
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| iOur Lady of Lourdes Church, Tiruchirapalli,T.N. sid-thewanderer.com |
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| Our Lady of Lourdes Church,Tiruchirappalli city,TN. catholiconline.in  |
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The Our Lady of Lourdes Church located next to the famous St. Joseph college in the business area of Tiruchirapalli city, Tamil Nadu, India is a Roman Catholic Basilica devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes. This hallowed church that forms an important land mark in this sprawling city was built in 1895 AD on the model of our Lady of Lourdes church – France. This Gothic styled structure with pointed arch rises to a height of 62 feet above the nave right across the Main Guard Gate, which once formed the rampart of 'Trichinopoly' fort. Inside this gate there is an old building called Clive hostel where Robert Clive of East India company stayed for a brief period. Massive walls, round pillars and topped arches are typical of the Norman style of architecture. The city of Trichirapalli and the nearby Srirangam constitute a famous Hindu pilgrimage center. Centuries ago it was in the Sirangam temple the world famous Orlov diamond was stolen by a French soldier.
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| Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Tiruchirapalli, sid-thewanderer.com |
A peasant girl in the small town of Lourdes, France saw a divine lady apparently Virgin Mary in a cave which was later corroborated by others. Soon the town of Lourdes became well known far and wide for numerous apparitions of Virgin Mary in the year 1858. When the European colonists came to India, this legend of Lourdes became popular among the small christian community living then. later it was canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholics. Later the town in France witnessed numerous healing, a sort of divine dispensation.
Inside the church total divine ambience, beautiful decorations, amazing arches and the ceilings will overpower your mind and make you sit there to meditate on the almighty.
This church has several architectural features and the ones that draw our attention are the 5 Statues of Great Saints in the middle of the Tower. The Chimney Bell at a height of 90 feet, amazingly beautiful stained glass windows depicting the life of Jesus, Jesuit Saints and Evangelists.
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In the last several years, on numerous occasions I went past this church, but never had I gone inside the church except twice that too a couple of years ago.
Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Lourdes_Church,_Tiruchirappalli
http://catholiconline.in/st-lourdes-church-trichy
