Religious, Spiritual sights in South America
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Iglesia de San Francisco
The first stone of the austere Iglesia de San Francisco was laid in 1586, making it Santiago’s oldest surviving colonial building. Its sturdy walls have weathered some powerful earthquakes, although the current clock tower, finished in 1857, is the fourth. On the main altar look for the carving of the Virgen del Socorro (Our Lady of Perpetual Help), which Santiago’s founder Pedro de Valdivia brought to Chile on his 1540 conquistador mission to protect him from attacks.
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Monasterio de Santa Catalina
Even if you’ve already overdosed on colonial edifices, this convent shouldn’t be missed. Occupying a whole block and guarded by imposing high walls, it is one of the most fascinating religious buildings in Peru. Nor is it just a religious building – this 20,000-sq-meter complex is almost a citadel within the city. It is a disorienting place with twisting passageways, ascetic living quarters, period furnishings and religious art – a photographer’s paradise.
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Catedral
The enormous and spectacular neo-Byzantine 1899 catedral contains the image of patron saint Nicolás de Bari, an object of devotion for both riojanos (people who live in La Rioja) and the inhabitants of neighboring provinces.
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Catedral de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes
The imposing Catedral de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes dates from 1788.
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Iglesia de la Candelaria
Seven blocks east of Plaza Bolívar amidst an area steeped in Spanish flavor, the church Iglesia de la Candelaria has richly gilded monumental retables covering the chancel's walls. The central retable dates from about 1760, while the lateral ones are modern replicas.
But the holiest place in the church for Venezuelans is doubtless the tomb of José Gregorio Hernández, in the first chapel off the right-hand aisle. Though not canonized, José Gregorio is considered more important than many official saints whose images adorn the altars of this and other churches. Yes, ask Venezuelans to name their most important saint and most will answer 'José Gregorio Hernández.' Indeed, th…
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Churches
Two blocks east of Plaza de San Sebastián stands the bare, 19th-century Church of San Cenáculo (cnr Bolívar & Montalvo). One block north of the church is Gran Colombia, the main handicraft and shopping street in Cuenca. The street's landmark building is the Church of Santo Domingo (cnr Gran Colombia & Padre Aguirre), which has some fine carved wooden doors and colonial paintings inside. Although it looks older, the church was built in the early 20th-century.
Although its doors are rarely open to the public, the Church of El Carmen de la Asunción (Mariscal Sucre near Padre Aguirre), founded in 1682, is one of Cuenca's prettiest sights, thanks to the colorful flower mark…
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Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de Coromoto
The Santuario Nacional is Venezuela's most important pilgrimage site, marking the spot where patron saint the Virgen de Coromoto allegedly appeared in 1652. The story goes that a divine apparition appeared to Indian Chief Coromoto here, urging him and his tribe to go to the white men (Spaniards) and embrace their religion. The chief did so, but it took a second appearance - and his impending death - to finally convince him to accept Christianity.
A holy image that was left with the chief was later enshrined in the church at nearby Guanare, which was a place of pilgrimage for centuries. In 1980, the construction of a new church began at the actual site of the apparition, a…
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Convento del Santo Ecce Homo
The Convento del Santo Ecce Homo, founded by the Dominican fathers in 1620, is a large stone-and-adobe construction with a lovely courtyard. The floors are paved with stones quarried in the region, so they contain ammonites and fossils, including petrified corn and flowers. There are also fossils in the base of a statue in the chapel.
The chapel boasts a magnificent gilded main retable with a small image of Ecce Homo and the original wooden ceiling. Look out for the drawing of Christ in west cloister - from different angles it appears that the eyes will open and close.
Part of the convent has been turned into an ethnography museum, with displays of agricultural tools and t…
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Monastery of San Francisco
Walking from the old town's narrow colonial streets into the giant cobblestone plaza reveals one of the finest sights in Ecuador - the whitewashed walls and twin bell towers of Ecuador's oldest church against the backdrop of Volcán Pichincha. Completed around 1600, the interior of the monastery boasts exquisite original tilework and spectacular Baroque carving.
The Monastery of San Francisco is Quito's largest colonial structure. Its founder, Franciscan missionary Joedco Rickie, is credited with being the first man to sow wheat in Ecuador. He is commemorated by a statue near the raised terrace at the front. Although much of the church has been rebuilt because of earthqua…
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Cathedral
Just east of the main plaza, the cathedral has fine stained-glass above the altar. The adjacent tower was constructed by the Jesuits as part of a church before Oruro was founded. When the Jesuits were expelled, it was designated as the cathedral of the Oruro bishopric.
In 1994, the original baroque entrance was moved and reconstructed at the Santuario de la Virgen del Socavón (Virgin of the Grotto), which presents a grand city view. It was here that 16th-century miners began worshipping the Virgen de Candelaria, the patron of Oruro miners. The present church, which is a 19th-century reconstruction of the 1781 original, figures prominently in Oruro's Carnaval as the site w…
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Igreja da Ordem Terceira do Carmo
The original Igreja da Ordem Terceira do Carmo, founded in 1636, burnt to the ground; the present neoclassical structure dates from 1828. The nave has a French organ (1889) and a baroque altar with a scandalous statue of Nossa Senhora do Carmo.
Church historians claim the statue was modeled in the likeness of Isabel II, the daughter of Garcia d'Ávila (of Praia do Forte fame), the largest landholder in the Northeast.
The artist, known as O Cabra (Half-caste), was a slave with no artistic training, who supposedly had a crush on Isabel II. The Christ-child cradled in the statue's arms has black features - could this be what O Cabra imagined their love child would look like?
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Iglesia de Santo Domingo
The Iglesia de Santo Domingo, built towards the end of the 16th century, is reputedly the oldest in the city. Its builders gave it a particularly wide central nave and covered it with a heavy roof, but it seems they were not too good at their calculations and the vault began to crack. Massive buttresses had to be added to the walls to support the structure and prevent it from collapsing.
The builders also had problems with the bell tower, which is distinctly crooked. However, legend has it that it was the work of a devil who knocked the tower. The interior is spacious and lofty. The legendary figure of Christ carved in wood is set in the baroque altar at the head of the r…
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Catedral
Set on the eastern side of Plaza Bolívar, the catedral started its life in the mid-16th century as a mere mud-walled chapel. A church later replaced it, only to be flattened by the 1641 earthquake. Built from 1665 to 1713, the new cathedral was packed with dazzling gilded altars and elaborate side chapels. The wide, five-nave interior, supported on 32 columns, was largely remodeled in the late 19th century. The Bolívar family chapel is in the middle of the right-hand aisle and can be easily recognized by a modern sculpture of El Libertador (The Liberator) mourning his parents and Spanish bride. Bolívar was baptized here, but the baptismal font now stands in the Casa Nat…
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Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Agua Santa
Within the town itself, the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Agua Santa is dedicated to the Virgin of the Holy Water (the same one with a shrine over by the waterfall). This illustrious lady is credited with several local miracles. Inside the church, paintings depict her wonders with explanations in Spanish along the lines of: ‘On January 30, 1904, Señor X fell off his horse as he was crossing the Río Pastaza bridge. As he fell 70m to the torrents below, he yelled “Holy Mother of the Holy Water” and was miraculously saved!’ Other paintings show people being spared from exploding volcanoes, burning hotels and other misfortunes. The Virgin is particularly good at warding off…
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Iglesia de San Francisco
Just south of the Capitolio Nacional, the Church of San Francisco was built in the 1570s, but was remodeled on several occasions during the 17th and 18th centuries. Guzmán Blanco, unable to resist his passion for modernizing, placed a neoclassical facade on the church to match the just-completed capitol building. Fortunately, the interior of the church didn’t undergo such an extensive alteration, so its colonial character and much of its old decoration have been preserved. Have a look at the richly gilded baroque altarpieces distributed along both sidewalls, and stop at the statue of San Onofre, in the right-hand aisle. He is the most venerated saint in the church due to …
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Catedral
Cartagena's Catedral was begun in 1575, but in 1586, while still under construction, it was partially destroyed by the cannons of Francis Drake, and not completed until 1612. Considerable alterations were made between 1912 and 1923 by the first archbishop of Cartagena, who covered the church with stucco and painted it to look like marble. He also commissioned the dome on the tower.
Recent restoration has uncovered the lovely limestone on the building's exterior. Apart from the tower's top, the church has basically preserved its original form. It has a fortlike appearance and a simply decorated interior with three naves and semicircular archways supported on high stone col…
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Iglesia de Santo Domingo
The church of Santo Domingo is most famous as the site of Qorikancha, which was Cuzco's major Incan temple. It has twice been destroyed by earthquakes, in 1650 and 1950, as well as being damaged in the 1986 earthquake - photographs in the entrance show the extent of the 1950 damage. Also in the entrance is a doorway carved in Arabic style - a reminder of the centuries of Moorish domination in Spain.
The remains of the Incan temple are inside the cloister. Colonial paintings around the outside of the courtyard depict the life of Santo Domingo (Saint Dominic) and contain several representations of dogs holding torches in their jaws - these are God's guard dogs (dominicanus …
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Cathedral & Plaza Murillo
A relatively recent addition to La Paz's collection of religious structures, the 1835 cathedral is an impressive structure. The cathedral's sheer immensity, with its high dome, hulking columns, thick stone walls and high ceilings, is overpowering, but the altar is relatively simple. Inside, the main attraction is the profusion of stained-glass work.
Beside the cathedral is the Presidential Palace, and in the center of Plaza Murillo, opposite, stands a statue of President Gualberto Villarroel. In 1946, he was dragged from the palace by vigilantes and hanged from a lamppost in the square. Interestingly enough, Don Pedro Domingo Murillo, for whom the plaza was named, met a s…
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Igreja e Convento São Francisco
Defying the teachings of the saint to which it is dedicated, the baroque Igreja e Convento São Francisco is crammed with displays of wealth. An 80kg silver chandelier dangles over ornate wood carvings smothered in gold leaf, and the convent courtyard is panelled with hand-painted azulejos (Portuguese tiles). The complex was finished in 1723.
Forced to build their masters' church and yet prohibited from practising their own religion, African slave artisans responded through their work: distorting the faces of the cherubs, endowing some angels with huge sex organs, or making others appear pregnant. Most of these creative touches were chastely covered by 20th-century sacris…
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Iglesia de la Compañía
Just off the southeast corner of the Plaza de Armas, this Jesuit church, one of the oldest in Arequipa, is noted for its ornate main facade and main altar, which is carved in the churrigueresque style (an intricate decorative motif popular during the late Spanish baroque period) and completely covered in gold leaf. To the left of the altar is the San Ignacio chapel, with a polychrome cupola smothered in junglelike murals of tropical flowers, fruit and birds, among which mingle warriors and angels.
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Catedral Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Valle
Dating from 1859, Catamarca’s Catedral Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Valle shelters the Virgen del Valle, who is the patron of Catamarca and one of northern Argentina’s most venerated images since the 17th century. The atmospheric cathedral also contains an elaborately carved altar to St Joseph, an ornate baroque pulpit and an exhibition of paintings of the Virgin. The cathedral overlooks Plaza 25 de Mayo, a truly beautiful square filled with robust jacaranda, araucaria, citrus and palm trees.
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Capilla la Banda
This 18th-century Jesuit chapel, acquired by the Frías Silva family of Tucumán on the Jesuits’ expulsion and then expanded in the 1830s, was restored to its original configuration in the 1970s. Note the escape tunnel in the chapel. A small archaeological collection – consisting mostly of funerary urns, but also religious art of the Cuzco school, ecclesiastical vestments and period furniture that once belonged to the Frías Silvas – is on display in the museum next door.
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Monastery of Santa Catalina
Due south of San Agustín stands the Monastery of Santa Catalina, a fully functioning convent and monastery that opened to the public in 2005. Since its founding in 1592, entering nuns have spent five cloistered years in solitary cells. To this day, the 21 nuns inside have only one hour to talk to each other or watch TV. But they make all sorts of natural products (shampoos, wine, hand cream, elixirs and more), which you can purchase from a rotating door that keeps the nuns hidden.
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Matriz NS da Conceição de Antônio Dias
Matriz NS da Conceição de Antônio Dias was designed by Aleijadinho’s father, Manuel Francisco Lisboa, and built between 1727 and 1770. Note the eagle with downturned head and the Virgin Mary surrounded by cherubs: both stand atop images of the moon, symbolizing the Christians’ domination of the Moors. Aleijadinho is buried by the altar of Boa Morte. The Museu do Aleijadinho in the adjoining sacristy displays beautiful works by Aleijadinho and other 18th-century masters.
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Iglesia & Convento de San Francisco
Constructed in 1581, the Iglesia & Convento de San Francisco is Cochabamba’s second-oldest church. Major revisions and renovation occurred in 1782 and 1925, however, and little of the original structure remains. The attached convent and cloister were added in the 1600s. The cloister was constructed of wood rather than the stone that was customary at the time. The pulpit displays good examples of mestizo design, and there’s a fine gold retable.
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