Ancient churches of Abids, Hyderabad

December 10, 2017
Sunday afternoon trip to Abids to see the ancient churches of Hyderabad. We had three churches on our list and also another ancient monument-
- St. Joseph's Cathedral
- St. George's Church
- Wesley Church
- Gun Foundry

We started our tour with St. Joseph's Cathedral, the largest on our list.

Established in 1820 CE, its construction began in 1869 and completed in 1891 including its façade and twin bell towers. The architecture is Gothic and in sync with churches built during that time.

 One of the towers has a bell which was imported from Italy. It is said the bell can be played in different tunes.

Massive columns and arches dominate the interior.

 Its domed ceiling is high and the glass chandeliers are seems to from Nizam's time.

  The solid wooden pews are ancient too.

Stained glass covering the arched windows seem to be imported too.

Lovely statues of characters from Bible adorn the sides. There's an imitation of the famous Pietà by Michelangelo in this church.

A candle stand covered with colorful wax droppings.

A close look at one of the intricately designed stained glass panes.

Having spent about 30 minutes, we move on to St. George's Church which is a five minute drive. This church has a better ambiance.. there's more open space and plenty of trees. This structure's construction started in 1844 but date of completion is not available. Its single tower is as tall as St. Joseph's Cathedral' bell towers.

The interior is quite compact and a mass was in progress at the time, hence I did not take any pictures of interior.

Next we stopped at Wesley Church which is also British era building but too much of recent changes. Lastly we went in search of the Gun Foundry building which lead us into the narrow lanes of Gun Foundry locality. Most people had no idea about the ancient structure, finally an elderly person pointed us to a crumbled mass of stones which is supposed to its remains. I was hoping the foundry was a protected monument but no such luck.

The other heritage churches are situated at Secunderabad, a pending trip.
- Trinity Church
- St. John's Church
- St. Mary’s Church
- Wesley Church
- All Saints Church

You might also be interested in other ancient churches I had visited:

1. XVI Century Roman Catholic Church of Mudgal

2. Scharer Memorial Church, Dhupadal, Gokak

3. Ancient churches of Bengaluru

4. Medak Cathedral

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