Serampore: St Olav’s Church

There’s a special treat this Poila Boisakh in Bengal. The 210-year-old St Olav’s Church in Serampore will be rededicated after an extensive restoration project. The church has been restored as part of the Danish government’s Serampore Initiative project. The initiative was launched by the National Museum of Denmark in conjunction with the West Bengal Heritage Commission in 2012 in keeping with the revival plans of the former Danish colony once known as Frederiksnagore. St Olav’s Church, locally known as the ‘Danish Church’, boasts of a royal monogram of Danish king Christian VII. The church bells are no longer in use, but one of them bears the inscription ‘Frederiksvaerk 1804’, indicating its origins from a Danish iron factory of yore. Parishioners and locals in the area are eagerly awaiting the rededication mass and the Wine and Cheese ceremony on April 16. The church was maintained by Serampore College, but was closed down when its roof collapsed in 2013. The two-crore-rupee restoration sees the church get a state-of-the-art sound system, new cable lines and stone flooring. The wooden rafters in the ceiling have been replaced with steel beams too.