Church of St. Bárbara, Goa

In addition to the ramparts and ramparts, the most visible archaeological monument of Chaul is the tower of the ruined Convent of St. Barbara.

Near the tower are the scarce ruins of the church and convent, nowadays transformed into palm grove and field of cultivation. There is no reliable data on the foundation of the Franciscan house in Chaul. Although the Franciscan missionary Frei António do Porto visited Chaul about 1540, the first mention of the convent dates from the period of the reign of Francisco Coutinho, 1561 - 1564. The convent suffered extensive damage during the siege of Chaul in 1570, since it was transformed into the main bastion of the improvised defensive perimeter around the primitive fortress.

In the interior of the church artillery pieces were set up and, adjacent to the west, built a wooden bulwark, which for months sustained several assault attempts. The convent was eventually evacuated by the Portuguese in the final phase of the conflict. Then the convent was rebuilt and enlarged.

The tower, twenty-nine meters high, dates from this reconstruction. Its design and solid construction give it a military appearance; However, in addition to serving as an observation post and support framework for navigation, the Convent of St. Barbara had not been fortified again after the siege of 1570/71. The church would be oriented along an approximate north-south axis. The facade disappeared almost completely. There were three side chapels on each side of the ship, being still visible in the vestiges of the side of the gospel. Between the side chapels and the main chapel there was a circumscribed transept. The main chapel had a stone vault, which fell between 1847 and 1855. On the left wall are two rectangular windows and on the right side two doors - one leads to a hypothetical before sacristy, on which the tower develops, and another to the space of the sacristy. The nave of the church had a roof in wood. The west of the church, between it and the city wall, was a small cloister. There remain vestiges of the hauls that limited it to the west and the north.