Page 512 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

510  SOUTHWESTERN INDIA

Goa’s Colonial Mansions

Goa’s countryside is dotted with grand colonial mansions, built by the wealthy land-
owning Goan gentry, who prospered in the 18th and 19th centuries. The homes of these
local aristocrats were built in the traditional style of the region, with central courtyards,
deep porches and window shutters made of oyster-shell. The furniture and interior decor,
however, were largely European. Today, the Belgian chandeliers, Venetian cut-glass and
gilded mirrors, Baroque-style rosewood furniture and Chinese porcelain, all displayed
inside, provide a fascinating picture of the tastes and lifestyles of a vanished era.

A typical
pyramidal
balcao, or
porch, graces
the entrance
of the
Figueredo
House in
Loutolim.
Chairs were
often placed
under the
Oyster-shell window shutters line the balcao, as it
façade of Sat Burnzam Gor (“Seven Gables”) was customary
in Margao. A unique feature of 16th- and to socialize at
17th-century Goan architecture, oyster the front door.
shells were used in place of glass panes
and effectively kept out the heat and glare.

This antique rosewood
carving from Goa’s grandest
mansion, Braganza House in
Chandor (see pp512–13), is a
typical example of Indo- European-style salons, such as the regal ballroom in the Dr Alvaro
Portuguese Baroque. Loyola Furtado Mansion in Chinchinim, built in 1833, have crystal
chandeliers and elegant furniture.

Where to See Panaji
Goan Houses NH66
Loutolim
Loutolim has four houses of
interest – Salvador da Costa Majorda
House, Roque Caetan Miranda NH66 Zuari
House, Figueredo House, and Margao Curtorim
Casa dos Mirandos, which is Colva
the finest. Margao has the
Sat Burnzam Gor, Chinchinim Chandor
has the Loyola Furtado Arabian
Sea
Mansion, and Chandor Chinchinim
Carved antique furniture at the Casa has the Braganza House. Cavelossim Palolem
dos Mirandos For more details, see p509.

For hotels and restaurants in this region see p701 and pp715–16

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