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The Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount
 Location
: The Chapel of Our Lady of Mount is situated in Old Goa.
Best time to visit
: Goa can be visited whole year round, the peak season being December to February.
An Introduction
The Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount located on an elevation, the Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount was built in 1557 many years after the conquest of Goa to mark the place where Adil Shah took position with his artillery. The Portuguese archaeological group placed in 1931 the following inscription in marble: “Here the Mohammedan artillery stood adjacent to Alfonso de Albuquerque to retake Goa in May, 1510”. The retable of the main altar presents eight panels. In the middle niche is the statue of Our Lady of the Mount with the child Jesus, above it the picture of the coronation of the virgin, and below, that of our Lady of Assumption. The pictures on the side and those seen on the walls of the main altar represent several acts of Our Lady's life. At the base of the retable are the busts of St. Vincent with a ship and that of St. Lawrence with a gridiron, the symbol of his martyrdom. The collateral altars are dedicated to St. Anthony and St. Anthony, at the angle of the panel of this Saint are miniature pictures of the devil with the following caption: “Peccatum meum contra me est. sempre (My sin is always before me, PS. 50,4)
Architecture of the Chapel
 The Chapel is vaulted and has the size of a reasonable church, with three altars , the middle one being consecrated to Our Lady of Mount. A building with two floors is attached to it, with some cells and apartments fot the residence of the Chaplain. Constructed to house a few hundred devotees, the chapel is a rectangular hall oriented in the East-west direction ; the east end with the main sanctuary and the west end with a mezzanine to house the choir and is approached by a spiral staircase in the northern wall. The Vestry and The Sarcristy are located adjacent to the main sanctuary. The chapel is constructed over a laterite hill that forms a strong base for its foundation. It has load bearing masonry walls of laterite with a mixture of mud and laterite aggregates sandwiched between the two leaves of single block thick laterite masonry , laid in lime mortar.
Getting there
Reaching Old Goa is easy, as one can get buses, taxis and motorcycles from Panajim. The Chapel is 2 Km from Old Goa, so one can hire taxi or auto-rickshaw to reach to the place. Local transportation also include Motorcycles on hire.
Accommodations
Goa has a huge option for stay. There are many luxury, star rated and budget hotels on hand all over Goa. Old Goa is also no exception. One can also opt for stay in Panaji, 10 Km from Old Goa. Governments of India and Goa also have hotels and guest houses in Goa.
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