Demolished thrice but still standing and fully used in Pondicherry

FIRST THE DUTCH demolished it in 1693. Then, it was replaced on the same site,  only to be demolished again in about 1730. Once more, a new one was constructed on the same site, and this was then demolished by the British in 1761. The current version of this building, the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Pondicherry,  was completed in 1791, and is still in use today. Regular Roman Catholic services are held here in the Tamil, French and English languages.

 

Today (3  February 2025), while waiting for a nearby shop to open, we sat quietly in the cool aisle of the Cathedral. After a while, some beautifully dressed people entered. They walked up to the front of the church close to the high altar, and posed for photographs.  It was obvious that amongst them was a just married couple. The bride was wearing a sari, had flowers in her hair, and a luxuriant flower garland around her neck.

 

As they walked away from the altar towards the open west door, they passed us, and my wife asked them if they had just married. They accepted our congratulations and asked us to join them. We did and as we stood next to the newlyweds,  who had just married in another church, the four of us posed for photographs. Then, the bride asked us to bless them by touching their foreheads.  We were moved by this request.

 

The marriage party went on their way, and we crossed the road to enter the huge bookshop that had just opened.