La Merced (Antigua Guatemala)
La Merced Church in Antigua Guatemala is the best-preserved baroque building in the country's old capital. It was the main church of the Mercedarian Order founded in 1218 by Petrus Nolascus in the Kingdom of Aragón in the General Capitanate of Guatemala created by the Spanish Crown in 1609 .
history
The church of La Merced was completed and consecrated in 1767, but only six years later, on June 29, 1773, an earthquake destroyed the entire city, which then had to be relocated by order of the Spanish king. La Merced was the only church that survived the earthquake despite damage and cracks; however, the adjacent monastery buildings were almost completely destroyed. The intact baroque altars were transferred in 1815 as part of a solemn procession to the Mercedarian Church in Guatemala City, which was only consecrated in 1813 .
architecture
church
The façade covered with vegetable stucco ornaments with its distinctive pairs of columns is flanked by two mighty but squat-looking towers, the lower part of which - as in many Spanish baroque churches - is almost unadorned; the two upper floors show all the richer building decor. In a niche in the pediment of the facade stands the founder of the order, Petrus Nolascus, accompanied by two friars. The interior of the church, which is only about 12 meters high, has a single nave and is vaulted; the crossing is raised by a windowed drum and a dome . There are several altarpieces from the 19th and 20th centuries on the walls .
Cloister
The huge area of the cloister is surrounded by partially reconstructed arcades with octagonal pillars and segmental arches . In the middle there is a huge fountain in the form of a Gothic multi-pass with a diameter of 27 meters, the raised middle part of which can be reached with a small fountain bowl over three short bridges; it has been suggested that the lower part once served as a fish breeding basin. The fountain was brought here in 1944 from the completely destroyed cloister of the San Francisco Convent and restored.
Holy Week
Holy Week processions are one of the main tourist attractions of Antigua Guatemala. Two of these processions start their way through the streets of the city from the church of La Merced:
| Day | sculpture | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Palm Sunday | Jesús Nazareno de la Reseña | 11:00 am - 11:00 pm |
| Good Friday | Jesús Nazareno de la Penitencia | 4:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. |
literature
- Wolfgang Gockel : Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. Mayan cities and colonial architecture in Central America. DuMont, Cologne 1999, pp. 142f, ISBN 3-7701-4732-4 .
Web links
- La Merced church - Photo + tooltips (English)
Coordinates: 14 ° 33 ′ 40.5 ″ N , 90 ° 44 ′ 3 ″ W.