Pedro Figueiredo de Albuquerque de Oliveira Novais.
It’s the last day of my Goa trip, and I find myself sitting in front of the man with the fabled name. Pedro belongs to the nineteenth generation of a family that identifies itself as the custodian of the Figueiredo Mansion, a sight I have travelled 550 km (Mumbai to Goa) to see for myself. For a fleeting second, I put myself in Pedro’s shoes, wondering how it must feel to carry a four-century-old legacy on one’s shoulders.
I must admit, my perception of the Figueiredo House wasn’t formed only during the time I spent within its palatial innards, but rather, through the course of my bus journey from Panjim (central Goa) to Loutolim (South Goa), where the house lives. Let’s blame my non-Konkani accent for everyone’s confusion about which place I wanted a ticket to, until I finally gave up explaining Loutolim and told the conductor I needed to reach Figueiredo House.
His exasperation turned to delight: “Why didn’t you say that first?” Turns out, Figueiredo House is something of a celebrity in Goa. And I was on my way to fangirl.
When I finally stood at its gates, I waited for a second before entering. It just felt right; here I was standing on the threshold of a conversation centuries in the making. And, until you’re able to do the same, I hope my tale does justice to the majesty of the mansion.
Ensconced amid the quiet lanes of Loutolim, Figueiredo House dominates the Goa skyline, dwarfing everything in its wake.
Figueiredo House in Loutolim dates to 1590 and has remained in the family for 19 generations.
Does Pedro ever feel like the king of the world, being born into a home that seemed like it was constructed by the gods for the gods?
He laughs.
“I never thought of it this way,” he reasons. “For me, it was always my vacation home in Goa.” Born in Portugal, Pedro was just a baby on his first trip to the home. For him, it was synonymous with family, he says, adding, “It looked very different back then. The museum is a new addition, an experience that my mother and I curated to give the family artefacts a space.”
Returning to a forgotten home
All of Pedro’s knowledge about the home draws from the stories that his maternal grandmother, Maria de Lourdes, would regale him with. He remembers her and his grandaunt Georgina as being the family matriarchs, who’d spent so much time in the home that their tales always brought a well-groomed gaze to the place’s history.
Now, for the last decade, Pedro has been attempting to study the thousands of artefacts and collectibles that deck the rooms of Figueiredo House. He’s eager to know the provenance, purpose and story behind each one. But, of course, it’s a Herculean task.
Many of the artefacts on display have remained in the Figueiredo family for over four centuries, passed down through nineteen generations as treasured heirlooms.
Sharing that he made the move to Goa after completing his university degree in graphic design in 2017, he explains, “After the passing away of my uncle, my grandmother was maintaining the home by herself. My mother had been visiting the house every year since 2008, and, in 2014, she asked me if I would like to come see what we could do with the home.”
The trip was path-altering; the duo was confronted by a home that had fallen into neglect. “Unrecognisable” is how Pedro’s mother, Maria de Fátima Filomena Figueiredo de Albuquerque, recalls it. “It felt like a ghost house. We passed by it and barely recognised it. The garden had become a forest.”
‘We decided to stay back’
It’s surreal to be sitting in the drawing room of a home that dates back to 1590. Surreal to imagine that these chairs at some point in time played host to diplomats, cardinals, ambassadors, and even royalty. And if you’d like to experience the feeling, the doors of Figueiredo House are open to you. The homestay model was started in December 2016, Pedro explains, adding that the homestay (part of the house) boasts nine rooms named after the family ancestors.
Part of Figueiredo House operates as a heritage homestay, with nine rooms named after family ancestors, allowing guests to immerse themselves in four centuries of living history.
On my guided tour around the home and museum — kind courtesy of Maria — I touch the hand-painted wallpaper in the rooms. I can’t help but wonder what stories these walls must have been privy to in their heyday.
There isn’t a nook or cranny of the home that doesn’t have some anecdote attached to it, and Maria is adept at telling each of these with the same level of enthusiasm, vigour, and respect. Her stories reveal the relatively reverential space every corner of the house holds in their hearts. These floors and walls have, after all, borne witness to weddings, celebrations, a fair share of sadness and family chatter.
As Pedro explains, despite the decision to ‘restore’ the home’s former glory, it felt counterintuitive to perform many structural modifications. The duo wanted the home’s storied traditions to endure.
Maria, in particular, was guided by the rhythms of nostalgia. “I’d heard so many stories from my mother about her memories of the home; she’d teach us songs in Konkani. I, too, have spent so many holidays here with my cousins and aunts. We’d swim in the river and enjoy each other’s company,” she smiles.
Never once has she regretted her decision to leave her life in Portugal and head back home to Goa, Maria emphasises. “There have been difficult moments, of course. But I like to focus on the happy ones. The idea was never to turn this house into something modern. We simply wanted to preserve it as it was built in the 16th century,” she adds, “Many people in Goa would first factor in the cost of maintaining a house like this. But that was never our way of looking at it. For us, it was about honour, loyalty and respect for our ancestors. That is what my mother and aunt did, and that is what I am trying to do now.”
Not all the artefacts are ornate heirlooms; some are everyday objects, like grinding stones and household tools, once used by generations of the Figueiredo family in their daily lives.
Those initial years of restoration are fresh in Pedro’s mind. “I still remember grabbing metal brushes and scraping the walls myself. We planted grass and spent those months doing small things around the property.” But, he says, his efforts towards the home were beyond the ambit of restoration, too.
He wanted to study the artefacts.
“My main source of knowledge was my grandmother. She was incredibly knowledgeable and would tell us hundreds of stories about the different pieces in the house,” Pedro shares, adding that his other sources were the internet, historians, and sometimes, even visitors to the museum.
“In the first two years, I conducted all the tours myself. When you do that every day, you immerse yourself in the subject. Visitors would ask questions, and sometimes I would say, ‘I’m not sure, but I’ll find out by tomorrow.’ That process pushed me to learn more,” he adds.
Pedro gives full credit to the women for ensuring that a house with such a rich legacy has braved the throes of time.
Meet the matriarchs of Figueiredo House
‘I won’t sell this house to you.’
This is what Pedro’s grandaunt said to former prime minister Indira Gandhi when the latter wanted to acquire it, after her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, had previously expressed the same interest. Pedro often chuckles at the anecdote that underscores how staunch the women in the family have always been in their beliefs.
For generations, the women of the Figueiredo family have been the steadfast guardians of the house, preserving its stories, artefacts and legacy against all odds.
There’s also the story of his grandmother insisting on playing cards with the men, even though this was frowned upon in patriarchal society.
“This is way back when my grandfather was posted as a civil engineer in Mozambique,” Pedro explains. “There used to be a separate house where the women would gather for tea and knitting, and another where the men would meet to smoke cigars and play cards. Neither was allowed in the other’s space. My grandmother liked to say she was the only woman permitted into the men’s house because she wanted to play cards too. They eventually let her in, and she became known for it.”
Tracing back to the artefacts, Pedro reiterates, “Maintaining both the property and its collection has never been easy, particularly within a traditionally patriarchal society. Yet the women in my family ensured that the house and its treasures remained intact.” Pedro’s grandaunt went on to become one of India’s first women judges to serve in the High Court, while his grandmother served as a member of parliament. Together, they safeguarded the legacy, ensuring that future generations would have a home to return to — and, eventually, a museum to share with the world.
The museum is a recent addition to Figueiredo House, thoughtfully created by Maria and Pedro to showcase the family’s centuries-old artefacts and stories.
I see that same spark of resilience in Pedro’s mother. After a lucrative corporate career of 46 years, she now mirrors the same excellence in her role as custodian of the family home.
Growing up with history
Even though it’s his own house, the feeling of awe might never escape Pedro. When I ask him to pick his favourite corner in the home, he spends a good minute trying to figure it out. He settles on the balcão (a traditional, covered front porch found in Indo-Portuguese Goan homes). One of his favourite pastimes when he was little was spending hot summer days there, and it remains one even now.
“Another space that holds special memories for me is the dining room because of all the family dinners we shared there. Every time we visited, we would gather around the dining table for elaborate meals. From a young age, I was taught dining etiquette. As children, we often wondered why we had to be so proper. But as I grew older, I came to understand that it was part of the family’s upbringing and values,” he shares.
Blending heritage with hospitality, the homestay invites guests to sleep within the walls of a 400-year-old mansion steeped in family history.
Even today, the table at Figueiredo House is always filled to the brim with goodness. The seasons find their way into the feasts laid upon it. And the mother and son hope that the table will always be filled with family and cheer for aeons to come.
And just like that, I come full circle to the drawing room at the end of my tour (I joke with Maria that I would need a GPS just to find my way around the home).
Later that afternoon, as I step outside the gates of Figueiredo House, I pause again. I smile. That conversation was indeed a century in the making.
