Poondi Matha Kovil

Travel for 33 Kms from Thanjavur, to reach Poondi village, where the famous Basilica is located. An Italian Jesuit missionary named Rev. Fr. Constantine Joseph Beschi S.J., aka Veeramamunivar, built a church in the eighteenth century and named it as the church of ‘Mary Queen of Immaculate Conception’. The shrine got to be known as Poondi Matha shrine.

The church is a Roman catholic pilgrim center and is often flocked with devotees. Poondi Madha Shrine was awarded the title Minor Basilica by Pope John Paul II on 3rd August 1999. The church is an excellent example of Gothic and French style of architecture. The major attraction is the row of statues of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. Also, the church holds the relic of the original cross/true cross (the one on which Christ was crucified).