Shettihalli Rosary Church Submerged Ruins
A roofless 19th-century Gothic church, abandoned after the Gorur dam's backwaters submerged its village, that reappears eerily above the Hemavathi reservoir waters each dry season.
Built by French missionaries in 1860, the Rosary Church at Shettihalli served the village’s Christian community for nearly a century before the construction of the Gorur (Hemavathi) dam in the 1960s and 70s flooded the surrounding lowlands and forced the village’s abandonment. Stripped of its roof and interior fittings, the church’s stone Gothic arches and bell tower were left standing amid the newly formed reservoir.
The ruin has become one of Karnataka’s most photographed “ghost” landmarks: through most of the year the structure sits partly or wholly submerged, but as the reservoir recedes in the dry summer months, it emerges dramatically from the water and surrounding grassland, drawing visitors and photographers to what is now an evocative, ownerless relic of a vanished village.
Getting there: The ruins lie a short drive from Gorur, off the Hassan–Belur road; accessibility depends heavily on reservoir water levels, and the site is best visited in the dry months. The Shettihalli Post Office serves the surrounding villages in Hassan taluk.
The site itself
Where to get your stamp cancelled
This may not be next to the site itself — some post offices serve several nearby landmarks.
- Post office
- Shettihalli Post Office
- Address
- Shettihalli Post Office, Shettihalli Village, Hassan Taluk, Hassan District, Karnataka
Sources
- Project maintainer transcription of the physical Philately Passport booklet (district/landmark/post office list)