San José Cathedral (Antigua Guatemala)
The Cathedral of San José was the episcopal church ( Catedral Metropolitana ) of Antigua Guatemala , the former capital of the Spanish General Capitanate of Guatemala . The original building was dedicated to the Apostle James ( Santiago ), the patron saint of the Conquista ; After the bishop's seat was relocated to today's Guatemala City , the parish church that remained in the old walls received the patronage of St. Joseph .
location
The former Catedral Primada de Santiago de los Caballeros is located on the east side of Plaza Central in the center of the old town of Antigua. To the south of it is the building complex of the old University of San Carlos, founded in 1676 .
history
After the destruction and relocation of the old capital from Ciudad Vieja to what is now Antigua Guatemala in the Panchoy Valley in 1543, a new building was built, which, however, fell victim to an earthquake in 1583. A new building was undertaken, but it was damaged and demolished around the middle of the 17th century after another earthquake. The current building was built between 1669 and 1678 and was consecrated in 1680, but extensive repairs to the vaults are documented as early as 1718. The severe earthquake of 1773 survived only the lower part of the facade halfway unscathed - otherwise all the vaults of the church collapsed. Since the Spanish king decided to relocate the city, construction was abandoned and only a small part was restored as a parish church. Some of the former furniture was moved to the building of the neighboring university.
architecture
The façade, made entirely of bricks and then covered with stucco , shows a three-portal triumphal arch scheme on the ground floor level , which is framed by four pairs of double columns. In the niches in between there are figures of apostles and church fathers ; There is a statue of Santiago above the central portal . The church space behind it is separated from the rear part of the former cathedral by a wall. You enter this from the south side - it had three aisles and a transept ; the crossing was topped by a dome . In the area in front of the former apse , a marble slab indicates the burial place of Bernal Díaz del Castillo , a soldier and chronicler of the conquest of the Aztec empire under Hernán Cortés , in the - today buried - crypt . The ashes of the conqueror of Guatemala, Pedro de Alvarado , who died in Mexico , are also said to have been buried here.
literature
- Wolfgang Gockel: Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. Mayan cities and colonial architecture in Central America. DuMont, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-7701-4732-4 , pp. 142f.
Web links
Coordinates: 14 ° 33 '24 " N , 90 ° 43' 58" W.