Graha Maria Annai Velangkanni

The shrine at Tanjung Selamat, completed in 2005, was built by a Tamil Indonesian priest, James Bharataputra, for the devotion to Our Lady of Good Health of Velankanni - a Marian shrine in Tamil Nadu that draws Hindus, Muslims and Christians alike, and whose Indonesian counterpart he wanted to serve the Tamil Catholic community of Medan, descended from labour brought to the plantations. The building is deliberately Indian rather than European: a tiered tower over the sanctuary in the manner of a South Indian temple, arches, domes and coloured stucco, with the chapel below telling the Velankanni story in relief. It is called an Indo-Mughal shrine locally. Whether it reads as inspired syncretism or as pastiche divides visitors, and it does not much matter to the congregation who use it.

What's there

• A tiered temple-form tower - South Indian in shape, over a Catholic sanctuary.
• The Velankanni devotion - the Tamil Marian shrine transplanted to Sumatra.
• Relief panels below - the shrine's story told in the lower chapel.
• A Tamil Catholic congregation - the plantation-descended community it serves.

When to go

All year; outside Mass times for looking round. An hour.

Good to know

It is an active church - services take priority and dress modestly. It is out of the centre and needs a taxi. The architecture divides opinion sharply.

Nearby

Central Medan and its mosques and mansions are east.

Key facts