Hotel Name : Le Colonial
Address : 1/315 Vasco da Gama Square, Church Road, Kochi, Kerala 682001, India
Contact Person :
Tel No : 0484 221 7181
Email : [email protected]
Website : http://le-colonial.neemranahotels.com
Hotel Profile
In 1500, the Raja of Cochin had given the land of Fort Cochin to the Portuguese to install a trading post. The great interest of Fort Cochin was its spice market and its important Jewish trading community which had settled there since 500 BC when Nabucodonosor had conquered Jerusalem. The second exodus of Jews came in 1492 when the Reyes Catolicos expelled them – first from Spain and then from Portugal. It is at this early time that the synagogue of Jew Town was built. The House saw respectively Albuquerque, as also Vasco da Gama, who is said to have died here and was buried within the St Francis Church compound, in 1524 AD, where one can still see his tombstone. His body was later transferred to Lisbon only fourteen years later.
St Francis Xavier is said to have lived in the house which has, among other names, also been called the “St Francis Bungalow”. It is believed that there was a secret tunnel leading to the church next door with an underground chapel – but this may well have been born from the imagination of the people!
