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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

St. Thomas Church, Kolkata

church in Kolkata

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ3584578 ↗
Source-derived summary

St. Thomas's Church is a Roman Catholic Latin Rite church in Kolkata, India. It is one of the colonial style buildings of the city. It is located in Middleton Row, Park Street. Mother Teresa lay in state in this church for one week prior to her funeral, in September 1997.

History

On 11 September 1841, Mgr. Carew laid the foundation stone of St. Thomas' Church. It was Blessed on 5 May 1842, Ascension day, and officially opened to the public on 8 September 1842. It is the second parish established by Mgr.

Editorial summary

“St. Thomas Church, Kolkata” enters the record as church in Kolkata. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thomas, Church and Kolkata can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1997, 1841, 1842—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1842. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Thomas, Church and Kolkata.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“St. Thomas Church, Kolkata” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Thomas, Church and Kolkata provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3584578. Authority coordinates are 22.550, 88.352. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1997, 1841 and 1842.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “St. Thomas Church, Kolkata”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow St. Thomas Church, Kolkata primary sources, St. Thomas Church, Kolkata archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “St. Thomas Church, Kolkata”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “St. Thomas Church, Kolkata” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.