St Augustine Tower

One of the most stunning of all monuments in Goa, duplicated on innumerable journey brochures and advertisements is the St Augustine tower in Old Goa.Out of the more than twenty churches that existed in the vintage town of Velha Goa, only ten remain intact today. The Monte Santo (Holy Hill) at Velha Goa was the site for the monastery of the Augustinian order, attached to which was the enormous church of Nossa Senhora da Graca (Our Lady of Grace).The Tower and Church were built in 1602 by the Augustinian friars who arrived in Goa in 1587.The tower is one of the four towers of St. Augustine Church that once stood at the site.

Initially built of laterite and colossal in size, almost forty-six metres high, it had four storeys.When it was accomplished in the 16th century, the impressive Nossa Senhora da Graca Church was identified as one of the three large Augustinian places of adoration in the Iberian world, the other two being the Basilica of the Escorial in Spain, St. Vincente de Fora in Lisbon. Covering the vast nave was a barrel vault, whose enormous weight unfortunately hastened its collapse.

The place of adoration was forsaken in 1835 due to the repressive principles of the Portuguese government, which resulted in the eviction of numerous religious followers from Goa.The place of adoration dropped into neglect and the vault disintegrated in 1842.The church's demise started with the disintegrate of this vault. The body of the place of adoration was shortly decimated, but the facade stayed intact.The tower's gigantic chime was moved in 1871 to the Church of our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Panjim, where it continues and can be glimpsed and perceived today. In 1931, the facade and half the tower dropped down, pursued by more parts in 1938 departing only half the tower that is glimpsed and travelled to by thousands of visitors today.This remnant, the renowned St. Augustine's tower is all that continues of what was one time one of the biggest structures in Goa -- The Augustinian Monastery.