2 BHPians and their photo-trip to the 150-year old Rosary Church, Shettihalli

[rjstyles69]

A long pending plan finally materialized last weekend , when our friendly mod maggie (theMAG) and yours truly did a quickie road trip to shettyhalli. We have been procrastinating this for over 2 years now and blame it on work schedules, family commitments and yes laziness too.

Maggie and myself did a road trip with our families about 2 years back and our plans never materialized since then. We did two trips one to Vagamon and the other a coastal Karnataka drive which lasted 4 days. This time around I was keen on ensuring that we did a one day drive at-least.
This trip again was nothing more than a regular phone call from maggie asking me to join him for a photography walk/evening session on the outskirts of bangalore to do a regular automobile shoot.

We have done this in the past with our good ol' birdies from the forum. Apparently I was to head to mysore that weekend and then I casually mentioned the idea of heading to Rosary Church, shettihalli. YES was the answer and we embarked on this trip.

I was a little skeptical about maggie waking up on time and reaching my place by 5:00am as planned. Well he made it :-).

For those of you who dont know about the Rosary Church, shettihalli

This church which was called the Holy Rosary Church was built by French Missionaries around 1860. It was abandoned when the Hemavathi Reservoir was built and now it is in ruins. The waters of the reservoir submerge the church every monsoon.
The church was reportedly built with mortar and bricks and a mixture of jaggery and eggs.During monsoons, the water level rises submerging the entire church apparently, when only the spire is seen at times. The entire roof had caved in while part of the altar and the central nave still stand but there were no stained glass windows or pews or even windows left in the church.

The route is pretty straight forward

Bangalore-- Nelamangala--Kunigal--Chennarayapatna--Shantigrama --Hassan(take the bypass ) and carry on the Gorur road for 22kms.

Its a little tricky to get there once you deviate from the Gorur road. Talk to the locals and they will guide you, we had the GPS and hence never missed a single turn.
Distance is about 210kms from Yeshwanthpur.
Awesome roads all the way till Hassan and then once you deviate towards Gorur the road becomes narrow and a few rough patches here and there, manageable though.

Three tolls to be paid and mind you no good petrol bunks or resturants along this route. Only decent place for a stop over is Kamat/CCD in CR Patna for a quick bite.The food at kamat has gone to dogs if I were to compare it with the old times back in 2006 when I have done this route.







The weather started playing spoil sport and could get only 2 decent shots with blue skies. The skies were over cast and bumping up the ISO also wasn't helping much.









The local and tourist populace has literally killed the place with inscribing their names and love for the fairer sex. Wished the govt had something to retain this place. Surprisingly even the ASI hasn't bothered about this place.

[theMAG]

So, like Riju said, it'd been quite a while since we had last embarked upon a photo trip of any sort. Also, Riju- being the main pillar of the organization he works for, was simply unable to break away from his work and fatherhood.

Apparently, on July 8 2012, all the celestial bodies were in alignment for our long-pending photo trip to Shettihalli.

I didnt know much about this place, and Google told me that its current interest was that it was a photographer's destination after it got mostly submerged by the Gorur backwaters of the Hemavathy dam. Historically, this was a church built by French missionaries for the-then wealthy British estate owners of the place, in 1860. That makes this church's remnants 150 years old.

Right, sounded interesting. So, like Riju has captured quite succintly, I did the unimaginable and hauled myself out of bed at 4 am that day, to head to Riju's place and got stuck at a railway crossing at 5 am. Beautiful start.

We did good time and reached Kamat after Channarayapatna for breakfast. Then we bore left onto an SH after the Hassan byepass towards Shettihalli and encountered our first Really? (R) moment. We enquired as to the road condition ahead and were told that it was great. It was great - if you love having your tooth fillings shaken violently.

But, we soon reached our destination, and the church appeared quite surreal- typical if you'd only heard/read about it before seeing it the first time.

We wasted no time and started the purpose that we'd come for - photography. It was a much needed break for both of us from our respective stresses, and we thoroughly enjoyed scouring the area for photos, before we were interrupted by a set of bumbling adolescents who came over since they saw 2 men with cameras photographing what must have been their regular playing field. They even parked their powerful 25 cc scooters and went for a walk to the shores of the backwaters, effectively ruining what had been a perfect photoshoot for us! But, we had all our snaps and couldnt have asked for more.

Let the snaps do the talking.


The Shettihalli church, out of the waters:



A window into the past:



A church once stood tall:



Another trip back in time:



Hey, I used to be you!



Peace:




The steed - Riju's Scorpio:




We headed back and stopped at the CCD next to the morning Kamat, for a burger before reaching our respective homes for lunch. There are absolutely no pitstops - fuel/food, between Channarayapatna and Bangalore. You might want to consider that in any of your drive plannings along this route.

I had a thoroughly enjoyable day. Riju - we must plan for such 1-day photo outings somewhat more regularly from now on. Thanks for the hospitality.

[rjstyles69]

maggie definitely we should catch up soon. Just adding a few more of my pics to conclude this one day drive.

The scorpio in front of the ruins.





The hemavathy catchment area.



Bridge which connects to Gorur.



We had visitors too.













My personal opinion is that its best to visit this place when the monsoon is in full swing or during the summer. From what I have heard the ruins of the church is always half submerged in the backwaters.

That said, all in all a day well spent and the 400+kms wasn't taxing at all. Wonderful roads all the way till Hassan and a few rough patches in the last 22kms after you hit the Gorur road. Definitely do-able in a day and makes for a good one day outing.

[Lukeskywalker]

Wow, you guys are competing with each other to get beautiful snaps, fantastic captures of a place which otherwise may not even be given a second look by the locals.
Riju, we must find more such places and may I be part of the team on your next such sojourn?

@ Riju, btw, you don't seem to have removed the tints on the Scorpio, not been stopped yet?

[_chikku]

Nice report and pics guys. I never knew that church was in such a bad state although I travel very often through Haasan bypass. Guess I have to make a visit once.

[VLOCT]

Superb pictures. The cloudy sky adds to the mystique of the place. Thanks.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

The scorpio in front of the ruins.

Attachment 955613

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Wow ! The Whitelander looks fabulous Riju. Very sorry to hear the fate of this 150+ years old Church. Maybe the location too doesn't help much in saving it, what with the place getting submerged every monsoon. It will take more than the Govt's will to restore this one, if it can be. Nice trip Maggie and Riju.

[theMAG]

Hari,

No question of any competition. More the merrier concept here!

[RevvMusic]

Awesome
This HAS to be THE location for the shoot of my next music video! I am already getting goosebumps imagining myself in the video drumming in front of this colossal structure on a full moonlit night

Btw, Perfectly done HDR's !!
A subject as graceful as this church, an Ultrawide lens, and HDR's. Whoa, it's every photographer's dream. Some of the pics remind me of the video of "November Rain" by Guns & Roses. Remember Slash's helicopter shot?? Perfect !!

Btw, which lens did you use?

[theMAG]

Thanks. 12-24 and 70-300 lenses shouldered the duty.

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by Lukeskywalker

Wow, you guys are competing with each other to get beautiful snaps, fantastic captures of a place which otherwise may not even be given a second look by the locals.
Riju, we must find more such places and may I be part of the team on your next such sojourn?

@ Riju, btw, you don't seem to have removed the tints on the Scorpio, not been stopped yet?

Hari like I said it was an impromptu one. Decided over a phone call and took off. Regarding the tints, yeah havent yet removed it. Will do so when I get pulled over.

Originally Posted by _chikku

Nice report and pics guys. I never knew that church was in such a bad state although I travel very often through Haasan bypass. Guess I have to make a visit once.

Make a trip you wont be disappointed.

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Wow ! The Whitelander looks fabulous Riju. Very sorry to hear the fate of this 150+ years old Church. Maybe the location too doesn't help much in saving it, what with the place getting submerged every monsoon. It will take more than the Govt's will to restore this one, if it can be. Nice trip Maggie and Riju.

Thanks John. I still think the govt should have done something to retain this as a historic site. Built a wall around it perhaps and then a bridge from the banks of the river to the church.

Originally Posted by RevvMusic

Awesome
This HAS to be THE location for the shoot of my next music video! I am already getting goosebumps imagining myself in the video drumming in front of this colossal structure on a full moonlit night

Btw, Perfectly done HDR's !!
A subject as graceful as this church, an Ultrawide lens, and HDR's. Whoa, it's every photographer's dream. Some of the pics remind me of the video of "November Rain" by Guns & Roses. Remember Slash's helicopter shot?? Perfect !!

Btw, which lens did you use?

Thanks man. How could one forget November rain and that shot of the church ? I used the Tokina 12-24mm and the Nikkor 18-105VRmm.

[addyhemmige]

Super pictures Riju and MAG!!! The church (although broken) looks fabulous in your pictures. As you have said, it has become a target for vandals. If you have noticed, these vandals have not even spared the top most part of the church. I really wonder how they even got to the top .

Regarding the route, there is one more direct and shorter route to Shettihalli, from Hassan. Instead of taking left on Gorur road, take the next left after it. It is a narrow single lane road, but it is in fairly good condition and there is very little traffic.

There is one older bridge just parallel to the bridge in your picture. I am not sure if you noticed it. It is fully visible during the summer and it is broken now. The local people refer to it as 'danada setuve' or 'Bridge for Cattle'. Sadly, by this time of the year, the Church should have been half submerged. This shows the extent of drought prevailing in the state right now.

You can also see the back of Gorur Dam from the church. This location is the confluence of two rivers (Hemavathi and Yagachi) and it forms the Hemavathi Reservoir. You can say that the church and the bridge is located on the Yagachi river and not the Hemavathi although it is part of the Hemavathi Reservoir.

[brraj]

Lovely captures there,
Regarding a good joint from bangalore->Hassan route you can visit Mayura hotel just after adichuchanagiri cross. Its best in taste n hygiene.

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

There is one older bridge just parallel to the bridge in your picture. I am not sure if you noticed it. It is fully visible during the summer and it is broken now. The local people refer to it as 'danada setuve' or 'Bridge for Cattle'. Sadly, by this time of the year, the Church should have been half submerged. This shows the extent of drought prevailing in the state right now.

Thanks addy. The bridge that you are talking about was submerged. A group was shooting for some tollywood movie confirmed that the bridge was seen the previous day and the day we were there it was submerged.
That said I was expecting the church to be submerged , atleast by half but then it wasn't to be.

[RevvMusic]

Forgot to mention in my earlier post, it Looks like a priceless treasure of Gothic Architecture. Can anyone throw some light, as to what historical event led the church to be abandoned?