Chapel of St Sebastian

Aside from its general old-world charms, Fontainhas is notable for being home to the pretty Chapel of St Sebastian, built in 1818. This small whitewashed church at the end of a lovely lane contains one of only a few relics remaining as testament to the Goan Inquisition, which terrorised the state’s population for more than two centuries. A striking crucifix, which originally stood in the Palace of the Inquisition in Old Goa. Christ’s unusual open eyes are said to have been conceived to strike fear into the hearts of ‘heretical’ suspects brought before the Inquisitors, and awaiting their usually grisly fate. Following the end of the Inquisition in Goa in 1814 – due to an Anglo-Portuguese treaty to that effect – the crucifix was brought to Panaji’s Secretariat, before finally being moved to the chapel in the early 20th century, when the viceroy’s residence shifted from the Secretariat to Cabo Raj Bhavan, on the coast. Nowadays, each mid-November sees a happy street fair set up outside the little chapel to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Livrament.