St Anne’s: A church with unique architecture

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Saturday, 27 June 2015 AT 11:49 PM IST

    

St Anne’s Church, Solapur Bazaar, Gopuram

Solapur Bazaar: St Anne’s Church, located in Solapur Bazaar, is unique among the churches in the city. The facade of the church building has a Gopuram in the architectural style of temples in south India. The centre of the facade also has a lotus. Besides, a majority of the church’s parishioners are Tamil-speaking.
St Anne’s Church was established in the early 19th century as a small chapel to serve Goan officers in the Peshwa’s army. The present church was constructed in 1963. Veteran Jesuit Fr JB Hass looked after St Anne’s Church for many years when it was still part of the St Xavier’s Church in Pune Camp. An independent St Anne’s Parish was established only in 1983.
In early 20th century, the then British government had given a piece of land in Mule Lines to St Anne’s Chapel. The land was used for building St Vincent’s Poor Home and a school. In 1979, the Tamil medium school turned into English medium St Anthony’s Middle School. Parish priest Fr Simon Almeida is assisted by Fr S Dhiruviyam. 

Mass timings
Weekdays: 6.30 am and 6.30 pm
Sunday: 7.30am (Tamil) 9 am and 6.30 pm (English)
Jurisdiction
Solapur Bazaar, Salisbury Park, Bhavani Peth, Nalini Apartments upto Gultekdi