The early european footsteps .....
Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica , Fort Kochi. Five centuries old Roman Catholic place of worship , one of the landmarks of Fort Kochi .A handsome white edifice with two soaring spires built in a blend of Indo-European and Gothic styles. The interior is richly decorated with frescos and mosaics, created by the 19 th Century Italian painter, Fra Antonio Moscheni and his Indian student, DeGama. But the building itself is not 500 year old. Commander Dom Alfonso Albuquerque of Portugal, arriving with the second exploratory fleet,in 1500, helped the king of Cochin to repel the predatory advances of the Zamorin of Calicut . And received , as thanksgiving, the right to build a Fort in Cochin . The generous King must have thought the whitepeople would load their ships with pepper and sit around happily confined to their little fort ! Alas, alas ! History turned out so different ! In 1505, the King permitted the Portuguese Viceroy to build a church , within the fort, &