St.George’s Forane Church Edappally

Asia’s largest shrine to Saint George, about five million people visit it every year. The church is thought to have been founded in 593 AD. It is regarded as one of the oldest churches in Kerala, after the seven churches founded by Thomas the Apostle in the first century AD. In 1080, a new church was built adjacent to the old church.A nine-day festival is celebrated annually as part of the Feast of Saint George . Its perennial well attracted many people, and the church became a pilgrimage site. The oldest Edappally church was built in 593, and the one-room building is preserved as a storehouse. The octagonal, 141-foot-high church covers a 88,000-square-foot area, and is one of India’s largest churches. Blending European and Keralite architecture, its madbaha altar is made of teak covered with gold foil imported from Italy and it has two bell towers.