St. Mary's Church, Secunderabad

St. Mary's Church, whose formal title is Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption (a minor basilica), stands on Sarojini Naidu Road in Secunderabad; no Roman Catholic church in the city is older. It was once the cathedral of the Vicariate of Hyderabad. Father Daniel Murphy began looking for a site in 1839; finding the Nizam's capital unwelcoming to other faiths, he chose Secunderabad, and the building was finished in 1850, then the largest church in the state.

The design is Indian Gothic, with pointed arches and buttresses blending European and local features. Four bells were shipped from Italy in 1901, and one has since cracked. St. Ann's School was started on the grounds in 1871 by nuns of St. Anne of Turin. Regular masses are still said, the Feast of the Assumption is kept in mid-August, and the church is lit up for Christmas.