The Seven Churches

On the Thursday of Holy Week, which is known as Maundy Thursday in United Kingdom, it is a tradition for people in Arequipa to visit all the churches in the center of Arequipa, of which there is seven. I spent the day with Lourdes, a girl from Church and we toured the churches. 


Services were being held in some of the Churches including the Cathedral so because of that and the throngs of people in them, we did not stay long in any of them, but it was good to see in them and see how similar they are with all the statues of the different saints and the paintings and statues of Jesus himself. The statues of  Jesus were mostly of him on the cross. 


I did not get to see all of the Seven churches, just Five of them.


The Cathedral

The Cathedral occupies all of the front of the Plaza de Armas, which is the main square in Arequipa. It is built in a neo-renaissance style with two towers and a stylized Gothic vault. Construction on the Cathedral was started in 1621 and finished in 1656. However, in 2001 a huge earthquake hit Arequipa and damaged both the towers, so much that one collapsed, but it was rebuilt again... but if you look carefully you can see there is a colour difference between both towers. 

La Compania

La Compania  originally erected in 1573 and followed the design of Gaspar Baez, but unfortunately it was also a victim of an earthquake but this time in 1584, so the church had to be rebuilt again in the late seventeenth century, finally completed in 1698.

Earthquakes can be quite damaging things. There has not been an earthquake in Arequipa since 2001 but according to the people who look out for them, think they are called Geologists, they are expecting one pretty soon - thankfully I now have my Go-Bag (full of essentials in case of an earthquake) so am ready to go, but am praying there isn't one as they are not very nice to be in the middle of I hear. 

San Augustin

San Augustin was built in 1575 and again was practically destroyed by a strong earthquake in 1868 but was restored again in the 19th Century and was rebuilt to the original details. 

San Francisco

San Francisco church was built in 1569 and again was designed by Gaspar Baez. However, after an earthquake in 1687, it had to be remolded and enlargened which saw it become the largest construction made from ashlar.

There is a statue of Francis of Assisi outside the church and this is because the church is linked with the Franciscan order due to the fact that the colonial cloisters were built by them - this conists of a small convent, a small temple of the Third Order of San Francisco and a small square.

Francis of Assisi

Santo Domingo

Unfortunately we did not get to this church until gone 6pm so it was dark and I was unable to take a photo of it, but here is a photo courtesy of google:

Santo Domingo was built by the Domnican Order who were the first order to arrive in Arequipa. Again this church was affected by earthquakes in 1582, 1605, 1958 and 1960. In the earthquake of 1960 the only thing left standing of the church was its ornate lateral portal and the Belfry. Again it was restored to its original design. 

So even though all these churches have been affected by earthquakes, they have not been left as rubble due to the indomitable fighting spirit of the Peruvians and the fact that these churches are very important to them. 

So that is the tale of my visit to the 5 of the 7 churches, the other two are Santa Catalina, which I will definitely visit in the next year and San Lazaro which I do not think is open anymore for people to look into.