Rants De Goa 03 : The One with the 'Portuguese House'

No.3 No.3

Rants De Goa

The One One with with The “The Portuguese Portuguese House” House” “The THE GOA COLLECTIVE

“Hey, check that Portuguese House bro. So antique. Love.”

Architects, writers and other concerned folks have been going blue in the face trying to correct people who refer to the houses of Goa as ‘Portuguese’.

The Truth? Glad you asked.

Architecture in Goa has little to do with the Portuguese, and rather all to do with Goa and it’s borrowed influences from all over the world.

There are many culprits here besides the ignorance of Goans themselves. Ill informed guides use the term to make the homes sound more exotic and alluring to wide-eyed tourists. The Real estate lobby slaps the word ‘Portuguese’ onto every villa and it’s mother to make them sound ‘foreign’.

What better way to escape the horrors of urban India than by occupying a piece of make-believe Europe?

By calling it Portuguese, one disconnects it from a local Goan context.

Brochures and their conjectural sales imagery choose to actively obscure the real face of the Goan village, choosing instead to strip it down to an idyllic setting : your ‘Second House’ with a picturesque view beyond.

This disconnection implies that you do not need to deal with any of the societal issues of Goa, or offer any real engagement.

You’re just there for the view. You’d like a tasty slice of Goan culture but don’t really want to acknowledge who baked it.

Raya Shankhwalker, the Panjim based architect sums it up perfectly, when he says :

“The problem is that we are a very small population with a distinct lifestyle and culture, different from other parts of the country. The current pace of influx is very rapid, and its not always the case that the new people who are moving in really understand, or want to understand, the underlying ethos”.

The Problem is when a large number of people move in for the love of the place, but not necessarily to be a part of its people.”

Also read : “That is not a Portuguese House” :

https://goanet-news.goanet.narkive.com/THaH5zcG/goanet-readerthat-is-not-a-portuguese-house-raya-shankhwalker

Hey but don’t get us wrong, bro.

The arrival of the Portuguese did change the face of Goan Architecture as we know it. With the introduction of Catholicism and European ideologies, the Goan landscape changed forever.

The eminent scholar Paulo Varela Gomes comes to the rescue.

“The European inputs that influenced Goan builders and patrons from the 16th to the 20th centuries did not originate from Portugal alone, or sometimes not at all, and borrow more from Italian stylistically influences, which makes sense as the priests behind the Church building spate were of pan-European origins.”

Infact, the only truly “Portuguese” building in the entirety of Goa is the Our Lady of Rosary Church, which is a Manueline building, a style that emerged in Portugal.

Most houses before the 1700s were not suited to the local climate and conditions, evident from the lack of shading and weathering devices on these structures.

Early examples of secular buildings in Goa were built in what Helder Carita describes as the ‘Cha’ or Plane Style.

These were planar buildings with windows and doors all in one flat level. The essence of the Cha style is utilitarian, echoing military architecture that was built for a strict purpose and had a formidable fortified appearance, like the palaces in Portugal.

Not only did these houses reflect the cultural aspirations of Goans, but they were built from local materials, and heavily shaped by their response to the climatic conditions.

The Goan imbibed a western outlook but did not ditch his Indian roots. The result is a distinctive house-form, with courtyards and verandahs, outward looking with a rhythmic arrangement of windows and doors.

And to top it off, The Balcao.

Lets say hello to Paulo Varela Gomes, one last time.

“The houses built in Goa…in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries constitute an extraordinarily coherent and distinct current in the panorama of housing around the world.

These houses are now being named ‘Portuguese Houses’ perhaps because of the influence of tourism since ‘Portuguese’ is a more exotic denomination than Goan…”

“There is no need to point out that houses such as those in Goa exist nowhere in any town or village in Portugal, Brazil or Portugueseinfluenced Africa.

They are solely Goan.”

The next time someone refers to these houses as ‘Portuguese’, do make the attempt to correct them politely.

If this is not possible, do smile and continue the conversation, using the correct terminology yourself.

They might just stop and notice that there is a difference.