Kalimpong
On a ridge of monasteries, Kalimpong's Catholics built St Teresa's in the shape of a Buddhist gompa and blessed it in 1951. Across town, a Scottish Gothic church tells the other half of the story.
Photo: Harsh Mangalam / Unsplash
1870s and 1937
Kalimpong's Christians came with the Scottish mission of the 1870s and, from 1937, with the Swiss canons of St Maurice. One of those canons, Father Andre Butty, also started the town's cheese.
Photo: Boudhayan Bardhan / Unsplash
St Teresa's, 8th Mile
Their superior, Mgr Aurelius Gianora, drew St Teresa's himself and carved its Last Supper, its altar and its communion rails. The church was blessed on 19 January 1951.
Photo: Mosharraf Hossain / Unsplash
Inside
The church takes the form of a Buddhist gompa, and its apostles were cut by a Buddhist craftsman as Tibetan monks. It is the clearest sign of how Kalimpong's faiths share one ridge.
Photo: Lobay Tamang / Pexels
Macfarlane Memorial Church
Its foundation stone was laid on 24 February 1890 and the church opened on 1 November 1891. Its services are now held in Nepali.
Photo: Ayush Paul / Pexels
Gouripur House, 1938
Up on the Durpin road, Gouripur House is where Rabindranath Tagore stayed and where, on 8 May 1938, he read his birthday poem live on All India Radio. The house is derelict, so its story is told from the gate.
Photo: Pranjal Panchal / Pexels
December
At Christmas, carols are sung in Nepali in the Gothic church of 1891 and in the church built like a gompa, and Kalimpong keeps the week quietly. St Teresa's stands at 8th Mile: give your driver the mile first.
Photo: Unsplash