Church of Our Lady of Lourdes

Church of Our Lady of Lourdes

Main entrance to the Church.

The Church's interior showing the nave, altar and stained glass windows.

The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes (Tamil: ஒஉர் லேடி ஒப் லூர்தேஸ் சர்ச் ) is a Catholic church in Singapore. It is located at Ophir Road in the Rochor Planning Area, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district.

History

The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes was constructed in 1888. This is the first Tamil Catholic church in Singapore. Its design is modelled after the original church at Lourdes, France.

Many architectural historians attribute this building to Swan & Maclaren, but it was more probably designed by a priest–architect, such as Father Nain, as many other Catholic buildings in Singapore were at the time. It could not have been executed by Swan & Maclaren, to whom it is often attributed, as the partnership was not formed until 1893, at which time the building was completed. More than likely the plans were submitted by A.W. Lermit of Swan & Lermit.

Today, the Church is used, up to a point, for the purpose for which it was built, i.e. as a worshipping place for Tamil Catholics. However, over the last decade, and in the interests of a multi-racial nation, it has welcomed Catholics of all races. Masses are held in English, Tamil and Singhalese.

The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes was gazetted as a national monument on 14 January 2005.

Architecture

The Church is a neo-Gothic building of good proportions and fine details and is said to have been modelled on its namesake building in the town of Lourdes in France. For some time it was in need of care and maintenance and the church was also somewhat eclipsed ^{[says who?]} by the addition of a new school building, Our Lady of Lourdes English School, on the same grounds.

Its brightly coloured redecoration of reds, greys and yellows, in late 1982, was considered by many^{[by whom?]} to have been unfortunate, however, in early 1986, renovation was carried out on the building, which was redecorated with a coating of white paint and the doors were highlighted with two shades of blue.

The church building is currently^[when?] undergoing repairs and restoration and work is expected to be completed by October 2010.

References

• Norman Edwards, Peter Keys (1988), Singapore – A Guide to Buildings, Streets, Places, Times Books International, ISBN 9971-65-231-5
• Wan Meng Hao (2005), Know Our Monuments [1], Preservation of Monuments Board

External links

• Singapore Catholic Church Directory
• Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes, Singapore