Houses
of Goa - A unique museum
Sandesh Prabhudesai
13 October 2002
 |
What
happens when a man with a vision dives into
history and takes you down the memory lane
with the help of technological advancements
of the infotech era, not in a rigid manner
but in an artistic style that any layman
will thoroughly enjoy ?
|
Comes
up a fabulous museum, much different from all
the ones that exist in any part of the world,
called Houses of Goa, courtesy Gerard da Cunha.
This 47-year old energetic architect lives away
from the concrete jungles, in an idyllic tiny
village called Torda, down the hillock, hardly
seven kms from Panaji.
If
you find the way straight after taking right turn
from the famous O Coqueiro restaurant of Porvorim
(on Panaji-Mapusa national highway), you just
cannot miss it while climbing down the hillock
full of trees and greenery.
It's
a three-storied triangular shape load bearing
building, built in exposed laterite stone, where
the actual triangular shape is formed only on
the second floor, making it resemblance a ship.
Built with cost-saving technology evolved by Laurie
Beker, the museum is awaiting an official launch
in November.
Gerard,
as he is popularly known in Goa, was actually
thinking of constructing a small traffic island
in front of a playschool his wife Nisha is running,
while his exhibition on 'Houses of Goa' was getting
acclaim in metropolis like Mumbai and Delhi and
even countries like Portugal. He thought of making
it a permanent exhibition and the traffic island
rose to display the history, at the hands of a
creative visionary.
| The
unique 'traffic island' has been designed
by cutting the vertexes on the ground floor
for the smooth flow of traffic. The museum
then rises with its walls corbelling out,
like a ship, in a triangular form. While moving
around in hardly 40 sq mts of area on each
floor, you however travel around right from
1300 BC, learning not only the houses but
even the People of Goa, who were ruled by
several empires, even much before the Portuguese
came down in 1510 AD. |
 |
Conceptualising
even the smallest corner of the museum wall or
the floor, it is filled with huge photographs,
skilfully drawn maps, models of ancient houses,
collection of designed pillars, windows of attractive
shapes, carved doors and other furniture, false
ceilings and even fabulous designs of tiles. He
has even converted the cafe on the ground floor
into a semi-museum by displaying photos of kitchens
and bathrooms of different Goan houses.
It
is all placed in such a manner that the visitor
can actually take a 'history trip' of Goa and
Goans rather than simply enjoying the ancient
architectural value of Goan houses. The museum
also displays historical facts and figures of
Goa that may help you understand the state to
perfection. And mind you, Gerard also plans to
update the database regularly.
To
make it much more smooth and interesting, Gerard
also skilfully uses the technology. An installation
as soon as you enter the museum on the first floor,
for instance, facilitates you to just press a
button of any century. It visualise the then boundaries
of Goa, known in different eras as Gopakpattana,
Gopakpuri, Sunaprant and today's Goem - the ultimate
creation of the Portuguese who ruled here for
almost four and a half centuries, till its liberation
in 1961.
The
museum takes you even on a virtual journey of
the evolution of Goan architecture, using innovative
'walkthroughs' with 3D effects. The computers
in each corner take you around Goa's famous houses,
may it be Raoraje Deshprabhu's palatial mansion
in Pedne that was built to accommodate 14,000
soldiers, famous cartoonist Mario Miranda's house
in the picturesque Loutolim village built over
300 years ago, Loyola-Furtado's palacio in Chinchinim
built at the end of the 18th century or retired
high court judge Justice Eurico Santana da Silva's
Margao mansion of Seven Gables, though four of
these Gables are now part of the history.
Nonetheless,
the museum has a small auditorium right on top
of it, which can easily accommodate 35 persons,
to watch a slide show on different facets of Goan
houses. A research institute indeed! A project
worth Rs two million, it is a dream come true
for Gerard, who has already been listed among
the 581 architects of the world.
He
has several prestigious resorts, townships, institutions
and even private residences to his credit all
over India, like Nrityagram of Bangalore, main
building and a library of Hampi's Kannada University,
Kutiram Tourist Resort of Bangalore, JVSL Township
in Torangallu, Tourist village in Kerala, Jimi
Gazdhar's palatial mansion on the banks of Goan
river and what not.
But
for Gerard, his heart weeps for the treasure trove
of architectural endeavour that his motherland
is losing very fast. "The ingredients were
perfect for this amazing pout pourri - borrowings
from the west and roots from the East in the hands
of a people in search of their own identity. The
end product ? A domestic architecture comparable
to the very best on Earth". This is the way
he describes Goan architecture.
On
each floor, the triangular shape windows open
in the gallery and you get a feeling of standing
on a hull of the ship like Titanic, simply to
spread your hands in front of the lush green Goan
treasure around you and say aloud, "oh dear,
I have the beautiful world around me ! "
