The details of Goa houses that Heta et al offer is delightful. >From the craftily created gateways balcony with all sorts of ornamentation especially lions, to varied columnades, to the entrada, to the sala with the lovely decorative motifs, to the library, to the altar rooms, whether the dev ghors of Hindu homes, or the oratorios of the Catholic ones, to all the details of the furniture in different houses, to the fact that these houses used to have different kinds of palanquins (olden days cars powered by slaves, 😢) to...
Ahhh... The book is delightful! Augusto On Sun, 17 May, 2020, 9:41 AM augusto pinto, <pinto...@gmail.com> wrote: > A couple of other things need to be said about Houses of Goa. > > It's a gloriously produced coffee table book. The paper is excellent and > so is the printing. The photos used to illustrate it are also very good. > > Besides the pictures of houses the authors also use lots of paintings of > older times to illustrate what they say. > > If I have any reservations about this lovely volume it's that I wish they > had indicated the locations of the houses they photographed as it would > have enabled us to go and see them. > > Also I wish that they had referenced all their claims in a more scholarly > manner as again the citations would have enabled the reader to go back to > those works. > Augusto > > > On Sat, 16 May, 2020, 6:17 PM augusto pinto, <pinto...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I wanted to read up on Goan architecture. >> >> Unfortunately when they were in print I didn't buy books about Goan >> houses as at the time they were a bit expensive and I didn't have enough >> money at the time. >> >> However fortunately for me my neighbour from Moira Leroy Veloso who >> collects books about Goa did buy some important ones so I borrowed a few >> from him. I'll write about the books I borrowed before delving into what I >> own myself. >> >> One of the more authoritative ones was Houses of Goa. It was first >> published by the architect Gerard da Cunha and Architects Anonymous in >> 1999. The book went into a second edition in 2000 and a third edition in >> 2006. >> >> Its text was written by Hera Pandit and Annabel Mascarenhas and the >> photographs are done by Ashok Koshy. The book has a foreword by Gerard da >> Cunha. >> >> Wtiting about Goan houses inevitably forces the writer to delve into >> history, for houses are the product of one's times. >> >> This is something which Houses of Goa richlh acknowledges as it explains >> how and why Goans built houses in the way they did over the ages. >> >> For instance the authors throw up the concept of the 'inward looking' >> traditional Hindu houses as compared with the post conversion 'outward >> looking' Christian houses. >> >> The old Hindu houses were ones where the women were to be shielded away >> from the eyes of outsiders. Hence while they had a lot of space indoors in >> the form of an inner courtyard called a raz-angounn the outside of the >> house was one which blocked the view to outsiders as to what way happening >> indoors. >> >> After many Goans got converted to Christianity the houses changed >> dramatically. The houses, especially those of the rich, began to be >> designed to display the class of the owners. They were meant to be like >> works of art, something that someone could marvel at from outside. On the >> inside furniture became important where in Hindu architecture there was >> little furniture. >> >> At the same time there were features of of embellishment borrowed from >> church architectural features like striking windows and gates. >> >> This post is getting overlong so I'll stop here. >> >> But the work of Heta Pandit et al is something well worth reading and >> pondering about if one wants to understand Goa. >> >> Augusto >> >> >> >> >> >> >>
