Kolkata – Several first time visual treats await visitors to 415 year old Marian shrine on the banks of Hooghly River in West Bengal.

Over 100,000 visitors of all religious beliefs are expected to visit the church on Christmas day. Almost the same number of people will visit Bandel Church on New Year’s day.

“Rivers of people just keep flowing into the Church just to have a darshan (look) of the baby Jesus kept in the creatively made crib,” says prior of Bandel Church Fr. T.L. Francis.

“All Church services in the historic church are suspended on Christmas day after the dawn of Christmas Eucharistic Celebrations to accommodate the visitors who come to the Church from dawn to dusk,” the prior says holding a meeting with some 50 uniformed volunteers from the parish, both gents and ladies, who will facilitate the crowd movement in the church.

Local Bengali bhadralok (gentry) from neighbouring townships make it a point to visit Bandel church for special days and auspicious occasions. Among them is prominent Ganguly family from Belur in Howrah who have their ancestral home in neighbouring Chandernagar town in Hooghly. Ganguly family’s ancestors started the world famous Jagadathri puja of Chandernagar.

Besides the huge Christmas crib made outside at the main entrance gate of the Church, the pilgrims will marvel at three major church renovations implemented to mark the launch of the Year of Mercy started on 8th December 2015. The holy year will conclude on Sunday 20th November 2016.

The first among the visual treat is the 14 Stations of the Cross installed in the church field in front of the shrine. The 54 life size statues depicting scenes of Jesus carrying his cross to Calvary to be crucified is bound to evoke piety and prayer among the visitors.

The second visual treat is old wooden main door of the riverside entrance to the Basilica embellished with relief motives depicting religious themes.

Third item to be seen is the restoration of the historical mast which had fallen in the storm that struck on 9th May 2010. The Portuguese ship’s mast was a votive offering to the Church from the captain of the ship that was miraculously saved in a tempest in the Bay of Bengal in 1655. An Archeological Survey of India team which visited the church after the storm declared the mast a heritage item and directed the public works department to re-erect it. But with the department taking no action, the church authorities had wrapped the mast and stored it. After a gap of almost five years one of the tourist attractions in Bandel, The Mast is once again displayed in a glass case.

“It is a matter of great prestige for Church Art company to be a part of this great renovation work in Bandel Church which draws pilgrims from across India and abroad. The Station of The Cross will add to the spiritual ambiance of the Church,” says Mr Subrata Ganguly of Church Art – a Kolkata based company specialising in designing art work for churches.

Mr. Ganguly who has implemented several similar projects across India and abroad says, “it took us about six months to put together all 54 statues and install the Stations of the Cross. It will stand as a temporary installation for people visiting the Church this Christmas. We’ll remove it and have it installed again later.”

Plans for landscaping the Church field to create an atmosphere of prayer and devotion will soon be implemented,” says prior of Bandel Church Fr T. L. Francis showing blue prints for the upcoming pilgrim facilities which include halls for pilgrims to rest, auditorium, food court and souvenir shop.

The major renovation of one of Hooghly district’s most iconic landmarks had been proposed to mark 400th anniversary of the establishment of Bandel Church in 1999. But the plan had to be shelved in the face of a raging litigation battle over the ownership of the church filed in front the shrine. However the matter was settled in favour of the church in 2014.

Established by Portuguese Augustinian monks in 1599, Bandel Church came under the charge of the Salesians of Don Bosco in 1928.

Saint Pope John Paul II declared Bandel Church dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Rosario – Our Lady of the Rosary – into a Basilica in 1988 in view of the 400 year celebrations scheduled for 1999.