3. Santhome Church:
There are three places in chennai that stand out as monuments of
honour, speaking aloud about the presence, activity and the
martyrdom of St. Thomas, the Apostle of india.
They are 1. Little Mount, 2. St Thomas Mount, 3. San Thome
Cathedral Basilica. St Thomas built a church at San Thome.
After his martyrdom, his body was buried in the Church built by
him. A pot containing earth, moistened by his blood and the lance
with which he was pierced were both buried in his tomb.
4. From his many followers, Jesus chose
twelve to be his close collaborators and
gave them power to preach and to heal.
These twelve are called “Apostles”. St.
Thomas is one of them. He is mentioned
four times in the New Testament of the
Bible (Gospel according to St. John). Of
these accounts, the most quoted is the
one of Jesus’ apparition to the other
eleven after His Resurrection, when St.
Thomas was absent, St. Thomas refused
to believe that Jesus had appeared to
them. He insisted: “Unless I see the
marks of the nails in his hands, and put
my hand into the wound in his side, I will
not believe.” During his next apparition,
Jesus called St. Thomas to him and
invited him to check his wounds. St.
Thomas burst into an act of faith, “My
Lord and My God!”
5. This is holy ground – one which contains the tomb of
St. Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ.
He came to India in the year 52 AD, preached on the
West Coast and Chennai(formerly Madras), died in this
city in 72 AD, and was buried in Santhome, This
Shrine, stands over his tomb.
In fact, the Basilica is so constructed that the smaller
of its two towers stands exactly over the tomb of St.
Thomas. This is also the shrine where the next most
famous missionary to India, St. Francis Xavier (whose
body is venerated in Goa), spent four months in the
year 1545, and used to pray before the statue of “Our
Lady of Mylapore”.
Thousand of pilgrims and visitors have been coming
here for nearly two thousand years. That group
includes history-makers like Marco Polo (thirteenth
century) and millions of ordinary men and women from
around the world
6.
7. The tomb itself was officially opened four times, according to written records:
(1) As St. Gregory of Tour mentions in his book, De Miraculis Sancti Thomae, it
was opened the first time to cure the son of a certain king, Raja Mahadevan.
(2) The second opening took place between 1222 and 1225, when most of the
Saint’s relics were removed from Madras to Ortona in Italy, where they are
preserved even today.
(3) The tomb was opened a third time in 1523 by the Portugese, when they rebuit
the ruined church.
(4) In 1729, Dom Jose Pinharno, then Bishop of Mylapore, opened the tomb to
distribute to pilgrims the earth from the tomb.
On that occasion, a bright light is said to have emanated from the tomb.
8. This magnificent edifice owed much to the
competent and free services of Captain J.A.
Power, a retired officer of the Royal Engineers
and a parishioner of Santhome. The structure is
what is known as “Gothic,” like the most famous
Cathedrals of Europe .
The Gothic churches are known for their tall
spires. The nave is 112 feet long and 33 feet
wide. The steeple is 155 feet high.
The sanctuary (the most important part of a
church, where the altar is kept and divine
services are conducted) is 62 feet long and 33
feet wide.
The ceiling is 36.1/2 feet high over the nave and
41.1/2 feet high over the sanctuary.
9. The nave has 36 windows.
The arches are 36 feet high.
Around the arches we see vine leaves
carved in high relief. These were designed
and executed by Captain Power.
10. SHORE TEMPLE
The temple is a combination of three
shrines. The main shrine is dedicated
to Shiva as is the smaller second
shrine. A small third shrine, between
the two, is dedicated to a
reclining Vishnu and may have had
water channeled into the temple,
entering the Vishnu shrine. The outer
wall of the shrine to Vishnu and the
inner side of the boundary wall are
extensively sculptured and topped by
large sculptures of Nandi.
15. SHORE TEMPLE
The Shore Temple (built in 700-728 AD) is so named
because it overlooks the shore of the Bay of Bengal. It is a
structural temple, built with blocks of granite, dating from
the 8th century AD. It was built on a promontory sticking
out into the Bay of Bengal at Mahabalipuram, a village
south of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu in India.
It is one of the oldest structural (versus rock-cut) stone
temples of South India.
16. ARCHITECTURE
The Shore Temple is a five-storeyed
structural Hindu temple rather than rock-cut as are the
other monuments at the site.
It is the earliest important structural temple in Southern
India. Its pyramidal structure is 60 ft high and sits on a
50 ft square platform.
There is a small temple in front which was the
original porch. It is made out of finely cut local granite. The
shore temple is also one of the most popular temples
18. INTRODUCTION
Auroville (City of Dawn) is an "experimental" township
in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India,
near Puducherry in South India.
It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (also known as "The
Mother") and designed by architect Roger Anger. As stated in
Alfassa's first public message about the township, "Auroville is
meant to be a universal town where men and women of all
countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony,
above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities.
The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity."
19. HISTORY
Auroville was founded as a project of the Sri Aurobindo Society on
Wednesday 28 February 1968 by Mirra Alfassa, "The Mother". She was
spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who believed that "man is a
transitional being". Mother expected that this experimental "universal
township" would contribute significantly in the "progress of humanity
towards its splendid future by bringing together people of goodwill and
aspiration for a better world.
The Government of India endorsed the township, and in
1966, UNESCO also endorsed it inviting the member-states to participate
in the development of Auroville. UNESCO re-endorsed Auroville four times
more in the course of the last 40 years
20. In the inauguration ceremony attended by delegates of 124
nations on 28 February 1968, Mother gave Auroville its 4-
point Charter setting forth her vision of Integral living:
Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to
humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be the
willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.
Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant
progress, and a youth that never ages.
Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future.
Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within,
Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations.
Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a
living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.
21. THE MATRI MANDIR
In the middle of the town is the Matrimandir ,
which has been acclaimed as "an outstanding
and original architectural achievement“. It was
conceived by "The Mother" as "a symbol of the
Divine's answer to man's inspiration for
perfection".
Silence is maintained inside the Matri mandir to
ensure the tranquility of the space and entire
area surrounding the Matri mandir is
called Peace area.
Inside the Matri mandir, a spiraling ramp leads
upwards to an air-conditioned chamber of
polished white marble referred to as "a place to
find one's consciousness".
22. The surface of the dome has 56 kg of Gold,
which was sandwiched between as thin sheets.
At its centre is a 70 cm crystal ball in a gold
mount which glows with a single ray of sunlight
that is directed on the globe from the top of the
structure. According to Mother, this represents
"a symbol of future realisation."
Matrimandir is equipped with a solar power
plant and is surrounded by manicured gardens.
When there is no sun or after the sunset, the
sunray on the globe is replaced by a beam
from a solar powered light.
Radiating from this center are four "zones" of
the City Area: the "Residential Zone", "Industrial
Zone", "Cultural (& Educational) Zone" and
"International Zone". Around the City or the
urban area, lies a Green Belt which is an
environment research and resource area and
includes farms and forestries, a botanical
garden, seed bank, medicinal and herbal
plants, water catchment bunds, and some
communities.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27. The columns
The columns arrived at Matrimandir in the beginning of January 1990.They were 24-inch diameter,
galvanised, seamless steel pipes, 8.65 meter long, weighing 830 kg each. The painting job appeared
straightforward and the first two were done completely in a couple of months. A dedicated team started
putting in extra time, a few infra-red lights appeared to help the drying, and then even an electric
polishing machine arrived to speed up the work. There are an average of 15 coats of paint on each
column with finer and finer sanding between coats after which the final polishing was done.
Air conditioning
Much research was done on the air conditioning plant which has been installed under the eastern edge of
the Amphitheatre. Various types of systems were rejected in favour of what is called the Freon R-22 system.
Chilled water is transported by underground pipes to the Matrimandir and up the north and south pillars to
air cooling coils near the Chamber.
The cooled air is blown into the Chamber through four grilles located in the ceiling, and will leave the
Chamber through slots at floor level, into ducts leading to the north and south pillars where the air-handling
unit will return the filtered air mixed with some outside air. It will then pass through the chilled water coil to
be re-cooled and dehumidified and eventually be sent back to the grilles by two fans.
28.
29.
30. THE CARPET
•The carpet in the meditation chamber was woven in Agra using a
blend of the finest Merino wool imported from New Zealand.
•This project was completed under the skillful guidance of Mr.
Meattle of India Carpets and Furnishing Company, one of India's top
carpet makers.
•It took 6 months to weave the twelve sections (and two spare
pieces) which cover the entire floor area of the Chamber.
•The manufacturing was done on a specially designed handloom
using the Wilton weaving system.
•This system gives a carpet all the good qualities of a machine-
made carpet as well as the special qualities of a handmade one.
31.
32. THE CRYSTAL GLOBE
The crystal for the Matrimandir arrived in Auroville on 26-4-91 at 10.15 p.m. It was
moved into the Matrimandir's Inner Chamber the very next day at 09.45 a.m.
The size of 70 cm diameter was marked on the original plan that Mother had drawn for
the central object in the Chamber. In July 1983, the searchlight fell on the firm of Schott in
Mainz, and somewhat later on Zeiss in Oberkochen, both in Germany.
These firms proposed the type of crystal - optically perfect glass - with the name of Bohr
Kron 7. On the 8th of June 1984, Zeiss presented the study, and gave the estimate: approx.
230,000 German Marks.
On May 12 1987, Schott wrote to Zeiss that the cast has been done, and that the mould
was being cooled. When two months later a visit to Zeiss was made, it appeared that this
casting was the second one, - the first one having failed for unpublished reasons.
33. THE CRYSTAL GLOBE
•The casting at Schott's in Mainz lasted 15 hours, and was done in a
special form of refractory stone, held together by seven metal bands,
which was placed on top of a platform built of iron and steel. During the
casting process the glass in the form was kept at a constant temperature.
After 15 hours the rough casting in the form of a massive dome with a
diameter of 80 to 85 cm and a weight of 1100 kg was finished, after which
it was cooled down extremely slowly (to avoid tension) in an annealing
furnace for a period of 5 weeks. The rough form had to be polished on two
sides, in order to test the quality of the glass. Finally, at the beginning of
1991, it became clear that the process to deliver the globe could be
started, and in April of the same year it reached its destination, the
Chamber.
34. THE HELIOSTAT AND LENS
The heliostat is controlled by a
computer program, which moves a mirror
across the sun's path every day. This
mirror projects sunlight into a lens, that
projects the single sun ray down on the
crystal. To make sure that the ray strikes
the crystal exactly in the centre, a photo
sensor is installed in the path of the ray
itself and relays the data on the ray's
position to the computer, which in turn
will adjust the ray to the correct position
if necessary.
35. Technical information about the lens
Focal length, first lens :- 30 m, diameter, 45 cm
Focal length, second lens :- 5 m, diam. 25 cm
Diameter of sun-spot on the globe :- 180 mm
36.
37. The gold discs
Disc frame: - Stainless steel tubes
Disc material: - stainless steel sheet
Gold leaf: - 28 gram of gold per 1000 leaves
Leaf size: - 85 x 85 mm
Total number of discs: - 1415
Small convex discs: - 954
Large concave discs: - 461
Average diam. (large discs): - 2.3 meter
Average diam. (small discs): - 1.5 meter
38. The Banyan Tree
By late 1965, time had come to define the
centre of Auroville. Roger Anger, the French
architect to whom the Mother had asked to
design the future town, brought to her a map of
the area north of Pondicherry. She was in her
room at the Ashram and had probably never set
foot in that area for at that time there was no
motor able road leading to it. She concentrated
and pointed to a particular area on the map.
The architect took a jeep and drove to the area
she had pointed at and found there a solitary
banyan tree in an almost totally barren plateau
overlooking the Bay of Bengal. The Mother was
very happy about the presence of a banyan tree, The Banyan tree soon after the
a tree regarded as sacred in India, and decided Inauguration Ceremony
to make it Auroville‟s geographical centre. Lone tree in a totally barren landscape
39. This Banyan Tree (Ficus
Benghalensis) belongs to the
Ficus (fig tree) family and is
now probably a little more
than hundred years old.
Banyans have the peculiarity
of producing „aerial roots‟
which grow down from
branches towards the ground
and take root to become new
trunks. (The diameter of this
banyan is now kept at
approximately fifty metres so
that it remains in proportion
Banyan Tree with some of its aerial roots with its surroundings.)
40. EARTH INSTITUTE
From the early days of Auroville,
in the 1970‟s, different
experiments have been made
with earth building, with mixed
results. The creation of
the Auroville Earth Institute in
1989, the construction of
the Visitors‟ Centre from 1989 to
1992 and the development
of Vikas Community from 1992
to 1998, started a new era in
earthen architecture in Auroville.
41. This Visitors‟ Centre of 1200 m² was granted the “Hassan Fathy
Award for Architecture for the Poor” in 1992.
Built of compressed stabilised earth blocks, it demonstrated
the potential of stabilised earth as a quality building material.
Vikas Community was a finalist for the “World Habitat Award
2000: and its 3rd building was built on 4 floors. Since then, the
value of earth as a building material has been acknowledged
for its economic advantage, as well as its comfort and quality,
which promotes indigenous and sustainable development.
Today, Auroville can show a wide variety of earthen projects:
public buildings, schools, apartments and individual houses.
43. Most of the projects are built with compressed stabilised earth blocks (CSEB), as this
technology benefits of more than half a century of research and development
worldwide. Stabilised rammed earth is also used extensively for foundations and to a
lesser extent for walls. In Auroville, CSEB present several advantages compared to the
local country fired bricks:
• Walls made of CSEB and stabilised rammed earth are always cheaper than fired
bricks.
• The initial embodied energy of CSEB produced on site with 5 % cement is ~ 4 times
less than the local country fired bricks.
• The strength of these blocks is most of the time higher than the local country fired
bricks.
There are also three other earth techniques used in Auroville. These techniques are
very marginally used as only about 10 buildings have been built with them:
• Raw rammed earth
• Adobe blocks, the traditional sun dried mud brick
• Wattle and daub which is mud plastered on a wattle made of split bamboo or
palmyra tree
45. Savitri Bhavan is a centre dedicated
to fostering a living sense of Human
Unity through spiritual education
based on the vision and teachings of
Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
The central focus is Sri Aurobindo‟s
mantric epic Savitri – a legend and a
symbol, which the Mother has called
„The supreme revelation of Sri
Aurobindo‟s vision‟.
Savitri Bhavan aims to gather and
create, to house and make available
all kinds of materials and activities
that will foster a deeper appreciation
of Savitri, of the lives.
46. Auroville‟s urban centre consists of a sequence of public
spaces and institutional buildings, referred to as „the Crown‟,
which forms a circle around the Matrimandir with a radius of
about 700 meters.
On the inner side of the Crown, where its western part passes
through the International Zone, Savitri Bhavan is located next
to the Mahasaraswati Park.
The building complex is arranged in such a way as to create
space and a backdrop for the bronze statue of Sri Aurobindo,
placed in the middle of a lotus-pond in the centre of a stepped
plaza, which looks towards the “Sri Aurobindo Plaza” one day
to be realised on the outer side of the Crown
47. These entrances are situated on a
split level on top of an artificial hill,
which not only gives an elevated
appearance to the complex but also
allows the arrangement of a much-
needed basement on ground level,
thus avoiding flooding problems
during the monsoon.
At the foot of this hill it is intended to
create a pond to catch rainwater from
the roof areas of the buildings and
contribute to the landscaped beauty
of the entrance garden space.
48. On the northern side, the hostel is separated from the main complex
by a long closed wall, which points towards the Banyan Tree in the
centre of Auroville. On the southern side the main building opens to
the park, along which the multi-purpose hall, the amphitheatre and
the Sangam Hall (yet to be realized).
The split level arrangement also permits easy integration of the
amphitheatre, which can easily be accessed from the raised main
floor as well as from the ground level.
A transversal curved wall is the connecting and harmonizing element
of the diverse and contrasting forms of the composite structure. This
curved wall - intersected by the tilted roof of the art gallery –
generates the height development of the building compound.
50. ABOUT PONDICHERRY
The Union Territory of Puducherry consists of four small unconnected districts: Pondicherry,
Karaikal and Yanam on the Bay of Bengal and Mahé on the Arabian Sea. Pondicherry and
Karaikal are the largest sections in terms of territory and population, both being enclaves of Tamil
Nadu. Yanam and Mahé are enclaves of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala respectively. The territory
has a total area of 492 km²: Pondicherry 293 km², Karaikal 160 km², Mahé 9 km² and Yanam
30 km². It has a total population of 1,244,464 inhabitants (2011).
Pondicherry public buildings (government and institutional) are not outstanding edifices because
they are recent, the best monumental structures of the Dupleix’s period having been destroyed by
the British in 1761, but the town is noteworthy for its domestic architecture which shows the
coexistence of two distinct styles – that of the French and that of the native Tamil.
51. FRENCH RULE IN PONDICHERRY
The French rule in Pondicherry started in the 17th century when the French
officer, Bellanger set up his residence in the Danish Lodge in the region of
Pondicherry. The French had been invited to start trading units in Pondicherry by the
ruler of Gingee. The invitation was forwarded to raise competition in trade between
the French and the Dutch who had already settled in the region and set up their
business unit.
The first governor of Pondicherry was Francois Martin who assumed office in the
year 1674. The efforts of the governor converted Pondicherry into an emerging port
town from a small fishing village. The Dutch occupied the territory of Pondicherry in
the year 1693 and fortressed the territory. The reign of the region returned to the
French in the year 1699 after the countries Holland and France signed an alliance.
The French rule in Pondicherry lasted till 1954 when the territory acceded to the
Union of India.
53. DESIGN CONCEPT
The city of Pondicherry was designed based on the French grid pattern and
features neat sectors and perpendicular streets. The town is divided into two
sections: the French Quarter (Ville Blanche or 'White town') and the Indian
quarter (Ville Noire or 'Black Town'.) Many streets still retain their French
names, and French style villas are a common sight.
In the French quarter, the buildings are typically colonial style with long
compounds and stately walls. The Indian quarter consists of houses lined
with verandas and houses with large doors and grills. These French and
Indian style houses are identified and their architecture is preserved from
destruction by an organization named INTACH. The use of the French
language can still be seen and heard in Pondicherry.
54. FRENCH BUILDINGS
In the ville blanche are still found an impressive
number of colonial houses, mansion-type houses
with courtyards behind ornate gateways, dating
from the 19th century or from the beginning of
the 20th century, which constitute a tropical
adaptation of the private mansions of the 18th
century with large terraces.
Most of them were built on a rather similar
ground plan with variations in size, orientation
and details, i.e. a symmetrical plan with the
principal façade usually opening on to the
garden/court, perpendicular to the street and the
high and solid enclosing wall and the elaborate
gateway forming a clear limit between domestic
and public space
55. The ceilings are marked by heavy wooden
beams and wooden joists supporting terrace
roofing made of brick-on-edge masonry in lime
mortar, called agamas' in French and Madras
roofing in English; the main building material
for all masonry works was burnt bricks in lime
mortar (the lime was made by burning sea
shells from the local shore or lime stone
quarried from Tutipet.
