St. Mary's Basilica

St. Mary's Basilica stands in Shivajinagar, formerly Blackpally, in Bengaluru. Its roots are said to lie in a 17th-century thatched chapel of Tamil Christian settlers from Gingee. In 1803 the French priest Jean-Antoine Dubois built a thatched chapel on this spot, enlarged in 1813 and dedicated to the Purification of Our Lady. A later cross-shaped church was destroyed in riots in 1832, and the present Gothic building was raised between 1856 and 1882 and consecrated on 8 September 1882. In 1973 Pope Paul VI made it a minor basilica, the first in the state and the sixth in India.

Inside, columns with Corinthian capitals carry arches, and the stained glass, taken down during the Second World War, was put back in 1947. Its tall spires can be seen from far off. The September feast of Mary's birth is the main event: a nine-day novena with Mass in English, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil, then a decorated chariot drawn through the streets on 8 September.