Mar Thoman Cathedral, Mulanthuruthy

Mulanthuruthy Mar Thoman Cathedral in Ernakulam district was founded in the 11th century and consecrated between 1100 and 1125. It was reshaped around 1550, when Kunchacko of the Kunnassery family brought Syrian Christians here during a quarrel with the Vadakkumkur kingdom, and a Syriac inscription on the granite main door records its re-erection in 1575. In 1876 Patriarch Ignatius Peter III of Antioch held the Mulanthuruthy Synod here, which set up the Syrian Christian Association and a democratic system for running the Malankara Church; the church is also where Holy Mooron was consecrated for the first time in India.

The building follows Kerala's own architectural style, with carvings, icons and wall paintings mixing Middle Eastern, Keralite and European influences. Its wooden altar recalls that of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the baptismal font cut from one granite block is about a thousand years old, and the parish house dates back some 300 years. Pilgrims come to see the murals, a relic of St Thomas and the tombs of several church fathers.