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St. Philomena's Church is built in the honour of St. Philomena, who is known as the martyr for Christ. The church is located in the Mysore city of Karnataka State. This church is India's one of the grandest churches. It was built in 1933, though its background dates back more than two centuries. During the early days of colonial rule, the Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar III realized the need for a Christian church and small church was built in 1799. Later on, the expanding Christian population made it necessary to build a large church. So in the place of the small church a new, large and grand church was built in 1933. That new church is the St. Philomena's Church, built by Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, which is frequented by the tourists.
Philomena was the only daughter of the monarch of a small state of Greece. Since childhood, Philomena showed signs of piety. At the age of thirteen years, her father took her to the Emperor Diocletion to obtain favour. Emperor was enthralled by her beauty and wished to marry her. On her refusal, she was tortured and beheaded in Rome. Later on, she was given sainthood and a number of churches were constructed all over the world as a dedication to her.
St. Philomena's Church is one of the largest cathedrals of South Asia. A Frenchman named Daly designed it. It is constructed using neo-Gothic style and the Cologne Cathedral of Germany influenced the architecture of the church. The floor plan of the church matches the shape of a cross. The long part of the cross is the nave, which constitutes the congregation hall, while two arms form the transepts. The crossing contains altar and the choir.
The beautiful marble altar has the statue of St. Philomena. The main hall contains stained glass windows from France, depicting the scenes from Jesus Christ's birth, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The most attractive spires of St. Philomena's Church are the main tourist attractions of the church. These twin spires are about 175 feet in height.
The tourists do visit St. Philomena's Church for gaining the peace of mind and enjoying its beautiful architecture.
To know about Tourist Attractions in and around Mysore go to:
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