Se Cathedral

The Se Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Goa and one of the largest churches in Asia. Built between 1562 and 1623, it was constructed to commemorate the Portuguese victory over the Bijapur Sultanate in 1510. The exterior is plain and massive — Tuscan on the outside, Corinthian within — and the interior contains five chapels, elaborate gilded reredos, and painted panels depicting the life of St Catherine of Alexandria, to whom the cathedral is dedicated.

The south tower, which once held two bells, lost one in a collapse in 1776. The remaining bell — the Golden Bell — is famous across Goa for its tone. The cathedral is immediately across the road from the Basilica of Bom Jesus and is usually visited as part of the same walk. Entry is free.

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A story
The Se Cathedral's bell — the Golden Bell — is the largest bell in Asia. It was cast in the 16th century and its tone is said to carry across the Mandovi River to Panjim on still mornings. The Portuguese considered a large bell a mark of colonial authority: the larger the bell, the more definitively you had claimed a territory for Christendom.