Mumbai: 16th-Century Church Altar, Portuguese-Era Records Among Marol Treasures Identified In National Survey
· Free Press Journal
Mumbai: A 16th-century church altar, a Portuguese-era marriage contract and a rare early-20th-century academic certificate are among the historical treasures from Mumbai's Marol village that could find a place in a national inventory of undocumented heritage assets.
As part of the Ministry of Culture's Gyan Bharatam National Manuscript Survey, government officials on Wednesday inspected a collection of artefacts and documents at St John the Evangelist Church and from the personal archives of local heritage enthusiast Godfrey Pimenta.
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The survey, launched nationally in March 2026, aims to identify, document and eventually facilitate the preservation, research and digitisation of manuscripts and historically significant records that remain unrecorded in public archives.
Mumbai: BMC Urges Residents To Stay Away From Trees During Heavy Rain After 113 Tree Fall IncidentsYogini Ghule, the Tahsildar official overseeing the exercise, said the initiative had recently commenced in Maharashtra. "We are looking for documents, especially handwritten ones, that have not been recorded or archived online. The project will help document unrecorded history," she said.
Officials from the District Collector's office are gathering information on documents and records more than 75 years old. While the material may be included in a national report on heritage assets, ownership of the original documents will remain with their custodians.
Among the items examined was the church's wooden altar dating to 1579. Rising more than 15 feet high and featuring an image of St John the Evangelist, the church's patron saint, the altar has survived several reconstructions of the historic church.
FPJ Interview: '12-Hour Mumbai–Delhi Journey Expected In Early 2027,' Says Western Railway GM Ramashray PandeyPimenta presented two family heirlooms that offer rare insights into the social history of the East Indian community. One was a marriage contract dated December 26, 1909, executed in Portuguese between the families of his grandparents. The document records a dowry of Rs 625, a substantial amount at the time, and bears signatures in both English and the historic Modi script once widely used for writing Marathi.
The second item was a Certificate of Excellence dated June 28, 1903, issued by the Bombay East Indian Association to a student who secured the highest marks in English and Mathematics at the then Marol English School, now St John the Evangelist High School.
The certificate forms part of a copy of "Round the Moon" by French author Jules Verne. According to Pimenta, the edition appears to be rare, as known copies feature different colour schemes and design elements, adding further historical interest to the document.
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