Municipal Lyceum

Municipal Lyceum

Mapusa [Mapuçá], Goa, India

Equipment and Infrastructures

In December 1924 the Technical Council of the Goa Government approved the plans and budget for the Municipal Lyceum of Mapusa; the land was expropriated the following year. At the time it was also called the Dom Francisco de Almeida Lyceum. It was built on top of a slope and inaugurated in 1933 by the then governor of the Estado da Índia, General João Carlos Craveiro Lopes (1929-36). The two-storey building’s layout is arranged symmetrically like an E with respect to the entrance, resolved by a small galilee and marked by a pediment, after which accesses to the upper floor are resolved. In the central zone on the upper floor is a reception area which provides access to four rooms; the staircase is located here. On the floor above is a large room. Each side volume is divided into two classrooms: one accessed via a veranda at the back of the building; the other through the adjacent room. The classically inspired façade reflects the internal organisation. Three projecting volumes flanked by pillars on both sides correspond to the three bodies. The lyceum was previously situated on a narrow strip of land. In 1937 the neighbouring plot on the west side was expropriated to build a playground. The staircase from the upper floor in the central body must date from that time, along with the two single-storey annexes. Besides that modification the balustrade-form fascia was removed and the roof finish altered. When the municipal lyceums were closed in the mid-1950s the old Lyceum was used as a barracks. In 1963 the Saint Mary Convent High School began to function here, but left the building in 2006 due to the advanced state of deterioration. The building is now intended to be renovated in the near future. The Mapusa Municipal Lyceum is among a group of public buildings certainly planned together and built with a view to stimulating growth of the neighbourhood called Altinho and development of the city of Mapusa.

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