KOCHI: In a rare blend of faith, engineering precision and heritage conservation, a 200-year-old wayside shrine at Konthuruthy in Thevara is being gently lifted off the ground and moved — intact — to make way for railway expansion, without disturbing a single element of its antiquity.
Standing quietly at the end of St John’s Road along the waterfront, the 15-ft-tall kurishadi has for over two centuries been a place of solace for believers, closely linked to the history of the waterside village and the St John’s Nepumsian Church.
Now, in a unique move, the church has chosen preservation over resistance, relocating the shrine 26 metres away onto its own land. “The kurishadi (shrine) is one of the unique structures of its kind, built around 200 years ago in Portuguese style.
We have very few such shrines in this part of the state, one each in Njarakkal and Edakkattuvayal, as far as I can remember. As the land once belonging to church has now been taken up by the Railways for development, the church has decided to relocate the heritage shrine, protecting the history of the region and the beliefs of the faithful,” said P C Antony, the church treasurer.
The shrine, first built in 1823 along with the original church, rises 15 feet with a six-metre-wide base. While the church itself was demolished and rebuilt in 1992 due to age-related issues, the shrine was preserved as a living relic of the past — until railway track expansion brought it under acquisition.
“The shrine is closely linked to the history of the waterside village. Now we are lifting the shrine from its original land, which is now under the Railways, to place it 26 metres away on church-owned land so that believers can worship at the same shrine, continuing a two-century-old practice,” he said.
The painstaking operation involves lifting the entire structure using 25 jacks and gears, with five workers manoeuvring the process. The project, which began on March 16 and is slated to be completed by March 26, is being executed by Haryana-based Sriram Building and Lifting (Atma Ram and Sons).
“We have been in this business, started by my grandfather, for decades now. We have helped conserve buildings across India since 1973, including a 650-year-old temple in Bhubaneswar and other heritage sites. It took us nine days to lift the shrine five feet and the mobilisation takes 12 days in total. The project costs around `4.5 lakh,” said Vikas Kumar Rana, managing director of the company.