Roman Cathalic Cemetery Agra

Roman Cathalic Cemetery Agra

This cemetery is situated on the eastern extension of the Mahatma Gandhi Road, near the Civil Court of Agra. It is one of the ancient Christian cemeteries in Agra. The site of the cemetery is a part of the estate granted by Akbar to the Roman Catholic Mission. The cemetery contains tombs of different nationalities. Some are buried under simple tomb stones, while a few have respectable tomb buildings containing their mortal remains.

 The most prominent tomb of a European at Agra is that of colonel John William Hessing. He was a native of Utrecht in Holland and was born in 1739. He served under the Nizam of Hyderabad and Marathas and died at Agra on 21 July 1803. The cemetery of Jhon Hessing was built by his sons and daughters. Its design was essentially borrowed from the Taj mahal, but comparatively much smaller project on a much reduced scale. Instead of white marble it is finished in red sand stone. Its has no inlay or mosaicdecoration and the ornamentation is exclusively in carving on the exterior, in stylized floral designs. The tomb is square on plain. Each facade has an iwan in the centre, flanked by ornamental double alcoves, one over the other. Slender turrets are attached to the central iwan – frame. The corners of the tomb are not chamfered. Instead, vertically fluted turrets surmounted by square chhatris are attached to them. The tomb is roofed by a double – dome, crowned by a magnificent finial. Popularly known as Red Taj Mahal because of its imitation of Taj in miniature scale, it is a perfectly balanced and beautiful building and exemplifies the continuity of the architectural skills of Mughal in the 19th century.

The tomb of General Perron, pyramidal in shape, lies to the north of Hessing’s Tomb. The other important tombs are of Walter Reinhard (popular as Samru and specially remarkable as the husband of the famous Samru Begum of Sardhana), the great traveler Thieffan Thaler, John Midenhall (self-styled English ambassador to the Mughal Court) who died in 1614 A.D., Francis Corsi who died in 1635 A.D., Geronimo Veroneo (the so called architect of Taj) who died in 1640 A.D., Father Joseph de Castro who died in 1646 A.D., The famous artist Austion De Bodeaus and Francis Ellis who died in 1868 A.D.