The underwater church of India - Shettyhali Church

The church underwater

 Consider a church built by the French missionaries in 1860’s

Consider a reservoir built by the Indian government in 1960’s

If you are thinking how these two totally unrelated acts and timelines could cause such an amazement for an offbeat traveler, you are just about know that

The thing is, the church, popularly known as Shettyhali church (named after the village where it is situated)was built on the banks of Hemavathi river near Hassan the French missionaries didn’t knew that the Indian government would plan to build a dam named as ‘GORUR DAM’  to reserve the water of the Hemavathi river which flooded the banks of the river every monsoon. The reservoir was named after the river itself ‘HEMAVATHI RESERVOIR’  

The church underwater
So almost 28 the villages on both the banks was ‘relocated to other places. The whole area became population less. But one thing happened, which no one didn’t even imagined. After the first  monsoon came when the dam was constructed it had to leave some of its reservoir’s water to release the pressure. But letting everyone’s eyes open to amazement the water just drowned the church to almost its seventy five percent. Which let the government to a terror that the Christians may make a revolt, but somehow luckily nothing happened, and after the monsoon went away, the church again rose from the water. 

The church over the water

Today only the skeleton of the huge structure is in its place. Some of the columns, the architecture, and the walls are preserved, so that one can just fill it up like a jigsaw puzzle through his or her imagination. The fascinating European structure and Nature’s strange game of taking the church inside the water in the monsoon and revealing it up after the season ends, had made the Shettyhali  church a must see for the tourists visiting Bangalore.

Driving Directions – Bangalore – Hassan – Harimanthpura – Shettyhali

-          Debarup Sengupta