Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica
This Gothic-looking basilica, set in spacious grounds, has an interior that's colorfully painted with scenes and decorations. The king of Cochin granted the Portuguese permission to build a fort and later a church in 1505 for their assistance in defeating the Zamorins of Calicut. For a while that structure was used as a Dutch armory. It was razed by the British in 1795, and in 1904 the current structure was completed, with a pillar of the original church within. Pope Paul IV elevated the church to a cathedral in 1558, and Pope John Paul II made it a basilica in 1984.
