Pilar Monastery: Courtyard of the Cloister

Courtyard of the Pilar Monastery Cloister
The image shows the courtyard of the cloister, a part of Pilar Monastery located about 5 miles (8 km) from the historic Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa.

The cloister, which dates to the early 17th-century Franciscan monastery, is a two-story quadrangle with an open courtyard at the center, surrounded by covered galleries. Its layout is symmetrical about both axes, with garden beds containing a variety of smaller plants occupying the four corners.

Mounted at the center of the courtyard on a three-tier concentric octagonal base is an unusual blackish sculpture of four lions arranged back-to-back around a central shaft. A lamp mounted above the sculpture illuminates the courtyard.

The age and precise significance of the unusual four-lion sculpture at the center of the courtyard remain uncertain. Its presence is particularly interesting because Pilar occupies an important archaeological site associated with the Kadamba-period city of Gopakapattana. Lion sculptures have been discovered around Pilar, including a basalt lion associated with the former temple complex and studied by German art historian and Indologist Gritli von Mitterwallner. The simha (lion) was the lanchana (royal emblem) of the Kadambas. However, the author has not found any documentary evidence establishing that the four lions now standing in the cloister courtyard are themselves Kadamba artifacts.

The walls of the lowest tier of the octagonal base are decorated with circular floral carvings, several resembling lotus blossoms, a motif widely used in Indian art and temple architecture.

Visible on the cloister wall directly behind the lion sculpture is the painting depicting the Death of St. Claire one of several Christian narrative paintings set into the walls of the cloister.

In the upper gallery, the slender stone columns support repeated arches and a long series of framed portraits are hung on the wall.

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