St Marys Church - Madurai Tourism

In the early 1840’s, under the guidance of Fr. Joseph Bertrand, A small church called St.Mary’s was built. It was a stones throw away from the Thirumalai Nayakar Palace, Which was erected two centuries earlier. At that time, the church & the city were separated by a wall.

Collector Blackburn, decided to pull these walls down a few years later. Instead of the walls, The four broad Veli streets now surrounded the church. As the city’s population grew, the church needed more space to accommodate worshipers. In the late 1870’s the Madurai Catholic Mission decided to expand the church & at this time the two lofty towers were built.

Further expansion work that began in the 1910’s had to be paused due to lack of funds during World War I. In the 1960’s the expansion that had been put on hold for half a century was resumed and a Neo-Gothic look was given to the church. Since the St.Marys’s church has been given the status of St.Mary’s cathedrad and today, has become a part of Madurai’s skyline