ST. Xavier

In the neo-gothic building, it occupies to this day, St. Xavier's was founded in 1869 by the Jesuits. In the corridors of the primary section, fragments of its past are evident in the form of stuffed hunted animals shot by priests during the British Raj. Almost like a museum, this collection is second only to the BNHS portion at the Prince of Wales Museum, Rumbas. Of these, the butterfly and bird set on the first floor and the stuffed tiger on the third floor are notable. The tiger was donated by Gujrat, the Maharaja of Vanzra, who was a former school student. The collection of butterflies and birds is the work of a Spanish Jesuit, Brother Navarro, a naturalist who was affiliated with the school. A part of a ship's propeller that fell there at the time of the Bombay Harbour Explosion of 1944 was at one corner of the main quadrangle.