St. Aloysius Chapel

The St. Aloysius Chapel in Mangalore was built by Jesuit Missionaries in 1880 and its interiors painted by the Italian Jesuit Antonio Moscheni in 1899, during the Mangalore Mission in 1878. The Italian Jesuit played an important role in education, health, and social welfare of the Mangalorean Catholic community and built the St. Aloysius College in 1880, St Aloysius Chapel in 1884 and many other institutions and churches.

St. Aloysius College Chapel is an architectural marvel that could stand comparison with the chapels of Rome. What makes this chapel unique compared to the other chapels in the country is the beautiful paintings that cover virtually every inch of the walls.

 Antonio. Moscheni from Italy is the creator of this master piece. He took almost two years to complete his painting. One portion of the chapel paintings depicts the life of Aloysius Gonzaga to whom Aloysius College and chapel are dedicated. Saint Aloysius gave his life in the service of others. He is given as a model to the students of the college. Gonzaga had everything that a young man of his age desires - wealth, power and influence, but he gave them up in order to serve others, especially the most needy.

There are two types of paintings in the Chapel: fresco and canvas. A fresco is painted on fresh wet lime plaster walls. The colours get embedded in the lime plaster as it dries up. Frescos cover about 600 square metres of the walls of the Chapel. For an oil painting, the colours are made by mixing pigments with linseed oil. The canvas is made of pure linen of strong close weave. The paintings on the ceilings in the Chapel (about 400 Square Metres) are in oil on canvas. The paintings of this chapel is preserved by a recognised board of the nation which maintains and restores all historic artifacts .