page_title: Places of worship in Bangalore
section_title: Christianity and churches
hierarchical_section_title: Places of worship in Bangalore / Christianity and churches
caption_attribution_description: Church in Bangalore.
context_page_description: Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka state, India, reflects its multireligious and cosmopolitan character by its more than 1000 temples, 400 mosques, 100 churches, 40 Jain derasars, three Sikh gurdwaras, two Buddhist viharas and one Parsi fire temple located in an area of 741 km² of the metropolis. The religious places are further represented to include the few members of the Jewish] community who are making their presence known through the Chabad that they propose to establish in Bengaluru and the fairly large number of Bahá'ís whose presence is registered with a society called the Bahá'í Centre.
  In the demographically diverse, major economic hub and India's fastest-growing major metropolis of Bengaluru, the number of religious places of each religion reported reflects growth in proportion to the population growth. According to the 2001 census of India, 79.37% of Bangalore's population is Hindu, roughly the same as the national average. Muslims comprise 13.37% of the population, which again is roughly the same as the national average, while Christians and Jains account for 5.79% and 1.05% of the population, respectively, double that of their national averages.
context_section_description: Bengaluru with recorded number of 40 churches (thus also called the city of churches), represents diverse Christian communities, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Protestants of the Church of South India (which includes Anglican, Wesleyan and other older denominations), Kerala based Syrian denominations and newer evangelical groups with links to the United States.
  It was in the year 1648 that Christianity made its first mark in Srirangapatna, the capital city of the then Kingdom of Mysore. Bengaluru was not a big city in those days.  Even though the first church in Bangalore was dated to the years 1724–1725, the spread of Christianity suffered a decline during Tipu Sultan's rule.  However, the history of revival of Christianity in Bangalore is traced to the year 1799 when the French priest Fr. Abbé du Bois came to Bangalore, at a time when the British seized Srirangapatna from Tipu Sultan. He restored the Christian religion in the city by building confidence of the Christians living in and around Bangalore in Somanahalli, Kamanahalli, Begur, Gunjam, Palahalli, Doranahalli, Garenahalli, Shettyhalli and other villages and by extending them spiritual solace. His acts of service to the people also involved introduction of vaccination in India.
caption: St. Mary's Basilica - Oldest church in Bangalore
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