A personal living link to the past
Centuries-old Portuguese mansion a window into India and Portugal’s colonial history
LOUTOLIM, India — Age sits lightly on the sprawling, four-centuries-old Figueiredo Mansion.
The home is a lived-in repository of memories tracing to the days when the west-coast Indian state of Goa was a Portuguese colony.
The Figueiredo family of Portuguese diplomats, lawyers and parliamentarians began building the mansion in 1590 as they made their home in quaint Loutolim, surrounded by paddy fields and a few neighbours. The family added a second section with similar design to the home 200 years later.
Today, about an hour’s drive from Goa’s airport, a rundown, roadside sign reads “Casa Museu V.J. De Figueiredo Loutolim” to let visitors know they’ve reached their destination.
Far from the party beaches and liquor shacks for which Goa is now known, the mansion operates as a homestay and a museum, filled with antique furniture and artifacts from the 17th century. The musty smell of aged wood fills arcaded corridors.
“It’s really like Portugal in India,” said Portuguese student Pureza Lino, 19. “Sometimes I look at the walls and I see something that reminds me of my Mom. Or the smell, only the smell reminds me of my grandmother.”
Three generations of the Figueiredo family live in the house, a personal, living link to history.
At 87, Maria de Lourdes Figueiredo de Albuquerque is frail and speaks slowly, admitting her memory is fading. But her eyes light up as she recalls the “many, many parties” hosted in the grand ballroom, with its wall-length mirrors, teak wood floors and Belgian crystal chandeliers.
Now the owner of the mansion, Maria de Lourdes grew up in the mansion along with her sister when the family was based in the west Indian state. She moved to Portugal as a young woman, where she witnessed the turmoil that led to the end of the European country’s 451-year colonial rule in Goa in 1961.
A few years later, she became the first female member of Portugal’s parliament in 1965-69. Then, two decades ago she returned to Goa to help her sister take care of the home.
“We have to watch these things with some respect,” she said, her watchful eyes taking stock of the paintings and embroidery adorning the walls. “Because these things are not made every few years. It’s once made for ages.”
When her sister died with no children, Maria de Lourdes inherited the mansion. She rules out ever selling the property, saying her daughter and grandson would succeed her.
Maria de Fatima Figueiredo de Albuquerque, now in her 50s, was born in the house before the end of colonial rule but grew up in Portugal. Two years ago, she left her job as an executive with an international cosmetics company and returned to Goa to help her mother take care of the house.
“I knew I would come back to my roots someday,” she said, while giving visitors a tour of the museum.
Every artifact in the mansion has its own story, and Fatima’s narrative helps in bringing some of that composite culture alive for the guests.
Pedro Figueiredo de Albuquerque de Oliveira Novais, as Fatima’s only son, is already considering ways to expand the mansion’s homestay business. He said taking over the family legacy would be his duty, but that the property must sustain itself financially.
Still, he plans to retain the hospitality and personal touch offered by his mother and grandmother.
“I never knew a lot of the family,” he said, but he wants to maintain the traditions. “I want to keep the experience of having dinner with guests.”