Notre Dame Auxiliatrice (Cap Malheureux)

The small red-roofed Catholic church of Notre Dame Auxiliatrice sits right on the water at Cap Malheureux, five kilometres west of Grand Gaube, and is one of the most-photographed buildings in Mauritius. The whitewashed walls, the bright red corrugated roof and the framing palm trees with the wedge of Coin de Mire in the background make for a postcard view that turns up on every Mauritius brochure.

The interior is plain and Catholic, with a few old votive plaques from sailors and a font made from a giant clam shell. The church is usually open during daylight hours; it is also a working parish and Sunday Mass is the best time to see it in use.

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A story
Cap Malheureux means the unhappy cape — the spot where the British landed in 1810 to take Mauritius from the French in the only land battle of the Napoleonic Wars fought in the southern hemisphere. The little red-roofed church came later, in 1938, and replaced an earlier wooden chapel. The interior holds a holy-water stoup made from a giant clam shell.

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