Preservation Manual for Colonical Churches of Jabalpur

Abstract

Churches come among the most beautiful man-made creations in religious architecture. Thinking about churches, what comes in our mind is Cathedral in France, the Great basilica in Italy and Churches of England, in a global context. There are several churches and convents in Madhya Pradesh and particularly in Jabalpur which contributes to the Christian heritage of India. Christianity in India is as old as the first century C.E. beginning with the arrival of Saint Thomas the Malabar coast of India where he established Seven Churches before he died in 72 AD. Christianity was spread all over India why different Christian missionaries and disciples. And along with the colonial rule, the development of churches was one of the most prominent and magnificent construction activities by the British, which represented the contemporary knowledge of architecture and Indian interpretation of Western architectural trends. Buildings of Colonial Architecture started being built in India, wherever the British colonies were settled. Earlier, in Third Semester in my research paper, I have highlighted the "Role of Colonial Interventions in Shaping the Modern Cities of India". Jabalpur has a variety of heritage buildings and water bodies built during the Gond and Maratha Periods, Forts were built by the Gond king in Jabalpur for security and surveillance. After that, people started coming and settling here from nearby villages. After the Gonds, during the Mughal period, Maratha kings came here as local rulers, who built many temples near the ponds, but Jabalpur was an exempt city till the English settlement in the early nineteenth century. Due to it being located in the central part of India and the favorable topography, it was a good place for defense. It was also well connected with railways and postal services to all directions in India. It was almost equidistant to Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Ahmadabad. The British came and started shaping the city, They built the cantonment here and set up factories in which military goods such as weapons and vehicles are made. As soon as we mention Jabalpur's architecture, the buildings built in the British period here such as the government offices, residences, bungalows, Court, Jail, hospital, Town Hall, clubs, clock tower, and 11 | P a g e gates come to mind but churches were the most important center of the settlement. Since Jabalpur was colonized in a later stage, the Colonial Buildings of this place are still in good shape but needed preservation to safeguard it for the future generations. Hence this study is focused on studying the colonial church architecture of Jabalpur and will aim towards preparing a Preservation manual for their prolonged safeguarding. In this thesis, I have surveyed the Churches of Jabalpur city and studied the Architecture of the Church buildings to find out the Values and Significance associated with them. I further identified the common defects that are found in the Churches or are likely to come and prepared a Preservation Manual to help the church personnel (owner or in-charge) preserve the building in its existing shape.