Velha Goa was the center of the evangelization of the East. It was the heart of the Portuguese Eastern Empire. Today, Goa Velha is a smaller city by the roadside
with about five thousand souls as inhabitants.
The west coast of India was a very coveted strategic point on the maritime trade routes. The port of Old Goa, built in the 15th century by the Sultanate of Bijapur,
was one of the best ports on India's spice route. With the arrival of the Portuguese, led by Afonso de Albuquerque, the city knows an unparalleled prosperity. Throughout
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the population increases exponentially attracted by the wealth generated and fame achieved. The investment in the city is so great
that it competes in size, demography and importance with Lisbon. Goa sees grandiose buildings for the first time: palaces, mansions and churches, many churches, of
western layout. The world goes on to call it "Rome of the East," the core of evangelization for Eastern lands. In 1835 the city has an end as meteoric as its rise.
Epidemics decimate the population and the silting of the river that feeds the harbor brings the ruin of commerce. Goa is abandoned.
The mansions of the wealthy Portuguese families, the large farms and the mansions did not resist the inclement weather, the ruin of fortunes and abandonment. Of
the original city of the period of Portuguese dominion remains only the religious heritage: the stone churches and the human church. One of the things that impresses
us most when we visit Goa Velha is to see the amount of religious buildings of such great magnificence in such a small space. What is even advantageous for those who
visit, since the Set of Churches and Convents of Goa is easily traveled on foot. According to Unesco, "the churches and convents of Goa illustrate the evangelization
of Asia. These monuments were decisive in the diffusion of Manueline, Mannerist and Baroque artistic styles in all the countries of Asia where religious missions
were established. "The state of preservation is exemplary given that we are in India and the whole city has disappeared in the space of a century. Perhaps the fact
that they are sacred buildings has contributed to this. Let's then get to know the pearls of Old Goa.