Our Lady of Dolours Basilica

Our Lady of Dolours Basilica, known as Puthenpally or 'New Church', is a Syro-Malabar Catholic basilica in Thrissur. It takes its name from a split in 1874, when part of the congregation followed the Chaldean bishop Elias Mellus and kept the old church, now the Chaldean Syrian cathedral. The Catholics began this new building in 1929 and raised it in stages; experts were brought from Tamil Nadu to help finish the towers, and the architect Ambrose Gounder completed the church. It is described as the largest church in Kerala and the tallest in India.

The west-facing façade has pointed arches, pinnacles and round stained-glass windows, with two 146-foot bell towers and, behind, the 260-foot Bible Tower. Inside, the cruciform church runs about 390 feet, with 32 black pillars, galleries on two levels and eleven altars. The 100-foot main altar shows Our Lady of Sorrows holding the body of Christ, flanked by the archangels Michael and Raphael above figures of the Twelve Apostles.