One Day Tour from Kolkata | Bandel Church | Hooghly Imambara | Ep.03

One Day Tour from Kolkata | Bandel Church | Hooghly Imambara | Ep.03

Howrah to Bandel local train 08:20am, train ticket Rs. 10/-
Car rental from Bandel station for 6 point sightseeing Rs.3000/-
Car rental : 7980361107

Camera used:
Ausha 4K action video
Canon SX60 HS

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Bandel Church
The Basilica of the Holy Rosary (commonly known as Bandel Church) is one of the oldest Christian churches in West Bengal, India. Situated in Bandel, Hooghly district of West Bengal, it stands as a memorial to the Portuguese settlement in Bengal. Founded in 1599, it is dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Rosário, Our Lady of the Rosary. It is also a parish church, part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta. It is one of the most prominent historical churches in West Bengal as well as in India.
Around the middle of the 16th century, the Portuguese began using Bandel as a port. During or around 1571, they were given permission by Akbar, the Mughal emperor, to build a town in Hooghly. As they began settling around the area, their priests began to baptise the natives — by 1598, Catholics in Hooghly numbered around five thousand, including natives and mixed races.
In 1579, the Portuguese built a port on the banks of the Hooghly, as well as a fort named Fort Ugolim, and enlisted the services of a band of Augustinian friars, then the largest religious body in Goa. The following year, Captain Pedro Tavares obtained the emperor's full permission to preach the Catholic faith publicly, and erect churches. Thus the Bandel Church came to be constructed in 1599.
This first church was burnt down during the sacking of Hooghly by the Moors in 1632. A newer church, constructed by Gomez de Soto (also spelt John Comes de Soto), was built over the ruin in 1660. The keystone of the older church can still be seen on the eastern gate of the monastery, bearing the date 1599.
On November 25, 1988, Pope John Paul II declared the sanctuary a minor basilica.
A ship's mast stands in front of the church; it was presented to the church by the captain of a vessel that had encountered a storm in the Bay of Bengal, whose rescue was attributed to Mary's intercession. The church has three altars, several tombstones, a pipe organ, and a shrine to Mary.

Hooghly Imambara
Hooghly Imambara is a Shia Muslim congregation hall and mosque in Hooghly, West Bengal, India. The construction of the building was started by Muhammad Mohsin in 1841 and completed in 1861. The building is a two storied structure, with a tall clock tower over the entrance gate. The mosque has intricate designs and texts from Quran engraved on the wall. The interior of the mosque is decorated with marbles, candles and hanging lanterns.
Hooghly Imambara is famous for its vaunted clock. It is at the middle of the twin towers constructed on the doorway of the main entrance. Each tower, having a height of approximately 150 ft., takes 152 steps to reach its top. The clock has two dials with three bells having weight 80 mds, 40 mds and 30 mds. Smaller bells ring at an interval of 15 minutes and bigger bell rings to signify one hour. The clock requires two people to wind it for half an hour of each week, with a key weighing 20 kg. It was bought for Rs.11,721 (in 1852) by Syed Keramat Ali from the manufacturer: M/s Black & Hurray Co., Big Ben, London.