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The
St. Mary's Church, located 2 kms from Kottayam
was built as early as 1550 AD. The church is famous for its Persian stone
cross, engraved with ancient inscriptions.
The church was built by the descendants of the Syrian Kanaya Christians
who migrated to India in 345 A.D., from Jerusalem and near-by places under
the leadership of Kana Thoma.
The Valliyapalli Church is famous for its two granite crosses known as
Persian Crosses, which were brought to their present location from a much
older church near Crangannore, built by the forefathers of the builders of
this church.
On each of the stone slabs there is a cross with an inscription in the
Pahalavi language, which was the official language of the Sassanian
dynasty in Persia.
The smaller slab is placed on the northern altar while the bigger slab
lies on the southern altar of the church.
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