One of the most spectacular of all monuments in Goa, reproduced
on innumerable travel brochures and advertisments is the St
Augustine tower in Old Goa. This highly visible landmark, a
46m-high tower served as a belfry and formed part of the facade
of a magnificent Church. Out of the more than twenty fabulous
churches which once existed in the old city of Velha Goa, only
ten remain today. And of these four are actually chapels. The
churches were located on and between seven hills around the
Velha Goa region. The Monte Santo (Holy Hill) at Velha Goa was
the site for the the monastery of the Augustinian order,
attached to which was the enormous church of Nossa Senhora da
Graca (Our Lady of Grace). The Tower and Church were built in
1602 by the Augustinian friars who arrived in Goa in 1587. The
tower is one of the four towers of St. Augustine Church that
once stood at the site. Initially built of laterite and colossal
in size, almost forty-six metres high, it had four storeys. The
Tower was meant to serve as a be