Building Identity: Religious Architecture and Sacral Landscapes of Christian Minorities in India and Bangladesh

Introduction

The cultural heritage associated with India and Bangladesh’s Christian minorities remains understudied and its historical significance is often contested. Many of the countries’ medieval and early modern churches were built primarily for communities of newly converted Christians that came from different regions and caste backgrounds and therefore carried corresponding identities.

Local Identities and Traditions

Even today, many of South Asia’s churches reflect these local identities and traditions, with factors such as caste, “indigenous” agency, and cultural “accommodation” playing a role in their social and architectural history. These contexts originated distinct regional architectural expressions in the countries’ six main Christian ethnolinguistic communities:

1. East Indians
2. Goans
3. Mangaloreans
4. Keralites
5. Tamils
6. Bengalis

Scholarly Focus and Overlooked Contexts

However, most scholarly work has addressed the design of these churches against the background of European artistic tendencies—such as mannerism or baroque—while local contexts and traditions have remained overlooked.

Current Challenges

Today, as dominant groups assert hegemonic policies across South Asia, religious minorities face increasing challenges, and their cultural heritage is oftentimes at risk. Many of South Asia’s churches founded before ca. 1800 have disappeared, are in ruins, or have been deeply transformed, and there is a sense of urgency in documenting the churches that remain.

Project Overview

ID-SCAPES will produce a Social History of the Built Environment of India and Bangladesh’s medieval and early modern churches and sacral landscapes, uncovering the influences of diverse agencies, identities, and traditions on their overall design.

Goals and Contributions

By producing knowledge on this body of architecture, with in-depth analysis providing vision for contested and/or endangered sites, the project will ascertain how churches are vital in framing the collective identities of Christian minorities today. This will thereby nurture their resilience and contribute towards the diversity of South Asia’s cultural heritage.