GOA has been known as the land of churches, temples and beaches but it also has several imposing forts, though most of them lie in ruins today. One marvels at the massive effort which was involved when the huge laterite stones were lifted to the top of inaccessible hills, to erect the forts. Sans cement, steel or mortar, the giant walls have stood the vagaries of nature for centuries, and would have gone on to last for several centuries more were they to be looked after properly.

The Portuguese found the need to raise the fortresses at several strategic points facing the river mouths to defend their new acquisitions in the East. Of course, they also acquired forts built by the neighbouring chieftains, when the latter's lands were annexed by the Conquistadores. However, once the defence priorities receded, the forts too were abandoned by the Portuguese.

Goa had 20 listed forts but only Agoada and Mormugao fortress enjoyed a pride of place due to their strategic importance. Thee Fortress of Agoada, erected in 1612, encircles the entire peninsula at the south-western extremity of the Bardez taluka in North Goa.

The walls of the fort skirt the sea shore and ascends the summit of the bare and rocky headland called the Agoada Point, 260 feet above the level of the sea. On this points stands a castle the tower-like Agoada lighthouse, about 36 ½ feet in diameter and 42 feet in height. It once showed a light revolving once in seven minutes, and supported a huge clock with a bell, the largest in Goa, once belonging to the Convent of St Augustine.

Contiguous to this lighthouse was a flagstaff and semaphore. Within the citadel lies a massive square cistern measuring 115 ½ feet across, and capable of containing about 2,376,000 gallons of water. It is divided into five compartments by sixteen columns supporting its vaults.

This fortress had two powder-rooms, two magazines, two prisons, four barracks, a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Good Voyage, and several buildings for the residence of the commandant, the chaplain, the surgeon and other officers. The British troops occupied the fortress in 1808 for a short period.

Within its precincts were several fountains and wells, which supplied potable water to the incoming ships; hence the name of Agoada, or watering place, from agoa (water). Nearby stands the small Church of St Lawrence, facing the West, and commanding an enchantingly panoramic view. Its construction took off in 1630 and it was completed in 1643. Dom Miguel de Noronha, Count of Linhares, ordered the Chapel of St Lawrence to be built. There is no resident priest at the church anymore. However, towards the end of every monsoon the feast of St Lawrence is celebrated at the church with great pomp by the locals, who traditionally believe that after his feast the port can safely be opened for ships and country craft.

THE AGOADA LIGHTHOUSE

Being one of the most busiest ports in the world, Goa attracted a lot of sea-going vessels from all over the world. The fact necessitated the erection of the unique lighthouse of Aguada, which figures among the oldest lighthouses in the world. It was the principal navigational landmark at the entrance to Goa. The construction of the lighthouse, which is in the form of a circular tower, about 36 ½ feet in diameter and 42 feet in height, had begun in 1604.

In 1841, it fell to the lot of Goa's then governor Jose Joaquim Lopes de Lima to modernise the lighthouse, so that it could guide the ships not only on moonless, summer nights but even during the monsoons. By 1864, the lantern which rotated agonisingly with an eclipse of 15 minutes, began flashing every 30 seconds with gradual increase in intensity, which reduced and disappeared for an one-minute eclipse. The lighthouse belonged to a premier class with a luminous reach of 25 miles in normal weather conditions.

But today it has been replaced by a modern, nondescript structure. Of course, state-of-the-art navigational aids have replaced the age-old, quaint lighthouses, which can at the most remind us of the colonial era when battles must have been as frequent as the thundershowers.

Ref:
An Historical and Archaeological Sketch of the City of Goa, Jose Nicolau da Fonseca
Aguada Lighthouse: historic, one of the oldest in the World, Herald.