------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Documented by Goa Desc Resource Centre Ph:2252660 Website: www.goadesc.org Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Press Clippings on the web: http://www.goadesc.org/mem/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------- Heritage fest to light up Goa's Latin quarter --------------------------------------------------------------- Organisers of the Fontainhas Festival of the Arts hope to revitalise Panjim s 200 years old Latin quarter and put the spotlight back on Goa s neglected architectural legacy.
By DEVIKA SEQUEIRA DH News Service, PANAJI
Part of the bustle of everyday city life, Panjim's quaint Latin quarter at Fontainhas will be under the spotlight once again, when the weeklong Fontainhas Festival of the Arts takes off this Saturday.
Encouraged by the great response it received last year, the Goa Heritage Action Group (GHAG), the festivals catalyst, is flying in artists like Jehangir Sabavala, Akbar Padamsee, Prafulla Dahanukar and Rekha Rodwittye this year, apart from art historian Saryu Doshi to deliver lectures and workshops at the site.
A settlement on the fringes of the capital, Fontainhas (which derives its name from the fountain at the foot of the hill) began to sprout around 1770, according to local historian Percival Noronha who is also a resident of the area.
It is patterned very much on the lines of Lisbon s Bairo Alto, which has a Moorish tone to it, therefore its classification as the Latin quarter. I have seen similar quarters in France as well, says Mr Noronha. With single-storeyed houses interrupted only by narrow lanes, Fontainhas Iberian ambience makes it an attractive proposition for tourism promotion. A number of houses in the area have already been converted into pousadas (small heritage hotels).
The area has great tourism potential, points out Mr Noronha, whose genteel and gracious house itself is 120 years old.
The area is both delicate and classy. And if we can manage through this festival to revitalise it, then we will have benefited its residents, says GHAG chairman Ralph D Souza. A hotelier, D Souza points out that Goa needs a better class of tourists and events like these, can help draw them in.
Panjim will also host the international Goa Kite Carnival at the Mira Mar beach from January 16. What is unique about the Fontainhas festival, say its promoters, is that artists exhibit their works in the houses within the Latin quarter and Mala. Some 45 artists, including painters and potters, will turn 40 houses in the area into galleries.
While the quality of the art at last years fest was nothing to write home about, the festival will help to highlight one of Goa s most charming, yet neglected architectural legacies. So far though, funds have been a constraint, organisers admit.
The state government recently announced a Rs 5 crore budget to desilt a marshy area at Mala on the outskirts of Panjim, where a large chunk of chief minister Manohar Parrikar's voters are concentrated. Fontainhas in comparison, has managed a commitment of only Rs 6 lakh from the city corporation and the states tourism department. -------------------------------- Deccan Herald 9/1/04 --------------------------------
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