English
Hospital of Our Lady of Miracles
Mapusa [Mapuçá], Goa, India
Equipment and Infrastructures
The first stone of the Hospital of Our Lady of Miracles was laid in April 1923 but it only opened in October 1945. The reason its construction dragged on for more than 20 years was probably that it was built by private initiative and financing. The resemblance of the building’s layout and vocabulary to the Surgery and Maternity Ward in Panaji lead one to think that they were both designed by the same person, although there are differences of scale in the façade, given that the Mapusa building is approximately half as long as the one in Panaji. Both are E-shaped, but the Mapusa building is deeper; they are also symmetric vis-à-vis the entrance, resolved by a galilee, after which accesses to the upper floor are distributed. The remaining distribution is done by outside galleries that protect from sun and rain, besides ensuring constant cross-ventilation of the central rooms. The differences in the two buildings’ design may be because the site in Mapusa has better conditions. In both the main façade is tripartite, reflecting the internal arrangements. Similar decorative and structural elements are used. The three volumes are opaque and jut out slightly from the arcades. They have pediments adorned with medallions and stylised geometric motifs that reinforce their structural components. The arcades are divided by pilasters that mark the façade’s rhythm; their scale and design lend the constructions a certain impressive air. In both cases the back elevation was clearly conceived to be a posterior without any concern for representation. Also noteworthy are the same kind of concerns: the importance given to climate and the sense of representation. The proximity of the construction start dates, coinciding with the short period in which Ramachondra M. Adwalpalkar was architect of Public Works (from March 1922 to September 1924), and the fact that he was from Assonora, a village in Bardez county, strengthen the possibility of common authorship. The Hospital of Our Lady of Miracles is one of the most striking buildings in Mapusa and also one of the most notable examples of the changes that affected Goan architecture from the 1920s to the 1940s. It is still used as a hospital.