Cathedral of Santo Domingo
The Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in the
Colonial City of Santo Domingo is dedicated to St. Cathedral Basilica of Santa María
Mary of the Incarnation. It is the oldest existing la Menor
cathedral in the Americas,[1] begun in 1504 and was
completed in 1550, and the second constructed, after
the Garðar Cathedral Ruins in Greenland.[2] It is the
cathedral of the Archbishop of Santo Domingo who
has the honorary title of Primate of the Indies because
this cathedral was the first diocese and the oldest
cathedral established in the New World in the post-
Columbus era.[1]
Front entrance to the Cathedral of Santa María
The cathedral is fronted with a golden-tinted coral la Menor
limestone façade. The building is Gothic,[2][1] a Religion
notable example of real Gothic architecture outside Affiliation Catholic
Europe. There is also a treasury which has an excellent Province Archdiocese of Santo
art collection of ancient woodcarvings, furnishings, Domingo
funerary monuments, silver, and jewelry.
Location
It is located between Calle Arzobispo Merino and Location Santo Domingo, Dominican
Isabel la Católica, next to Columbus Park in the city of Republic
Santo Domingo de Guzmán.
History
The Cathedral of Santo Domingo is the oldest existing
in the Americas, built by order of Pope Julius II in
1504. Headquarters of the Archdiocese of Santo
Domingo, its construction began in 1512, under the
pastoral government of the first bishop of Santo
Domingo, Friar García Padilla, who never came to the Architecture
island; based on plans by the architect Alonso de Style Gothic
Rodríguez. Groundbreaking 1504
Completed 1550
With the work stopped, they continued with a new
design by Luis de Moya and Rodrigo de Liendo in UNESCO World Heritage Site
1522 with the intervention of Bishop Alessandro
Part of Colonial City of Santo
Geraldini.
Domingo
Successively Alonso de Fuenmayor, promoted the Criteria Cultural: (ii), (iv), (vi)
work and on August 31, 1541, it was consecrated.
Reference 526 (https://whc.unesco.org/
en/list/526)
Inscription 1990 (14th Session)
Coordinates 18°28′22″N 69°53′02″W
Location of Cathedral of Santo
Domingo in the Dominican Republic
In 1546 Pope Paul III elevated it to the rank of Metropolitan
Cathedral and Primate of America at the request of King
Interior of the First Cathedral of America, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
highlighting the ribbed vaults.
In 1547, the work on the bell tower was interrupted, because
its height, surpassing the Homage tower, had caused
disturbances to the sentinels.
The architect Alonso González, inspired by the Seville Cathedral, partially completed the church in 1550.
In the second half of the 16th century, the Cloister sector was built on the south side, with the cells of the
canons; another example is found in the Cathedral of Salamanca in Spain. It was the headquarters of the
troops of Sir Francis Drake, who sacked it during his 1586 invasion. Apparently in 1665 there was a
second consecration.
Initially without chapels, by 1740 it had 9 and currently has 14. The Chapels of Alonso de Suazo,
Rodrígo, Bastídas, Geraldini and Diego Caballero deserve special mention, as well as the crypt of the
Archbishops and the lateral Baptismal chapel.
Among the works, the painting of Our Lady of la Antigua was donated by the Admiral. The organ was
brought to Magdeburg in 1860.
Another promotion came in 1920 when Pope Benedict XV elevated it to "Minor Basilica of the Virgin of
the Annunciation".[3]
Description
The architecture of the building of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo is characterized by a Gothic style
with ribbed vaults, solid walls and three doors, two of them Gothic in contrast to the third and main of
Gothic-Plateresque style.
The cathedral contains a vast artistic treasure made up of
altarpieces, paintings (including a panel of the Virgin of la
Altagracia dated 1523), old cabinetry, furniture, monuments
and tombstones, among other objects. The mausoleums of the
archbishops of the colonial period stand out, it is also worth
mentioning the tombstone of Simón Bolívar, one of the
predecessors of the Liberator.
The remains of Christopher Columbus were housed in the
cathedral for a time, which were transferred in 1795 to the
Tomb that housed the remains of
Cathedral of Havana and finally, between 1898 and 1899, to
Christopher Columbus until 1795.
the Cathedral of Seville.[4]
The valuable archiepiscopal throne, in the Plateresque style,
dates from 1540. It was part of the lower choir, dismantled at
the end of the last century to place the marble monument in
which the remains of Christopher Columbus were kept.
The cathedral is built with calcareous stone, although some
walls are made of masonry and bricks, and it has twelve side
chapels, three free naves and a main nave. The roof of the
central nave is pitched. Those of the side naves are made up Rear north facade of the Cathedral of
of ribbed vaults that face the outside, as if they were Santo Domingo in a photo of 1899.
hemispherical domes. The greatest length of the basilica is 54
m from the central nave to the bottom of the presbytery. The
width of the three naves is 23 m. The highest height from floor to vault reaches 16 meters, and the built
area exceeds 3,000 square meters. Fourteen side chapels were built throughout the cathedral's history.
The surroundings of the cathedral are formulated in three
independent spaces, to the north the Plaza de Armas, the
battlemented atrium is like an antechamber that marks the
main entrance to the religious complex. To the south, the
cloister called Plazoleta de los Curas. The annexes around the
courtyard allow a passage called Callejón de Curas.
Notable people buried South nave of Santa María la Menor
Cathedral.
Buenaventura Báez – was the president of the
Dominican Republic for five nonconsecutive terms.
Ramón Báez – was a physician and president of the Dominican Republic.
Fernando Arturo de Meriño – was a Dominican archbishop and served as the president of
the Dominican Republic.
Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra – He served as the president of the Dominican Republic.
Gallery
Exterior
Cathedral of Santo Coat of arms of the North facade South facade
Domingo at the late Cathedral of Santo
19th century. Domingo
North facade Main entrance Bell-gable (rear) East facade
(west facade)
Night view of the
main entrance
Roof view of
cathedral
Interior
North nave of Santa Vaulted ceiling Interior
María la Menor (rib vault structure)
Cathedral.
Column Ceiling structure Main altar
(rib vault)
See also
Catholicism portal
List of colonial buildings in Santo Domingo
Colonial City of Santo Domingo
Our Lady of Altagracia
List of oldest buildings in the Americas
Gothic architecture
History of the Dominican Republic
List of basilicas in North and Central America and the Caribbean
References
1. "Colonial City of Santo Domingo" (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/526). UNESCO World
Heritage Centre website.
2. "Basilica Cathedral of Santa María la Menor" (https://web.archive.org/web/2020072614414
6/https://www.5albemarleway.co.uk/blog/2018/8/15/basilica-cathedral-of-santa-mara-la-men
or-1). 5albemarleway.co.uk. 15 August 2018. Archived from the original (https://www.5albem
arleway.co.uk/blog/2018/8/15/basilica-cathedral-of-santa-mara-la-menor-1) on 26 July 2020.
Retrieved 25 September 2019.
3. Cardinal Gasparri (1920). "BENEDICTUS PP. XV - LITTERAE APOSTOLICAE - INTER
AMERICAE" (https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xv/la/apost_letters/documents/hf_ben
-xv_apl_19200614_inter-americae.html). The Vatican website.
4. "Los restos de Colón de la Catedral de Sevilla son auténticos, según los investigadores de
Granada" (https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2006/05/20/ciencia/1148152090.html). El
Mundo. Europa Press. 2006.
External links
Flores Sasso, Virginia de los Ángeles (2012), Doctoral Thesis about the construction of
Santo Domingo's Cathedral (in Spanish) (https://web.archive.org/web/20140624023115/htt
p://bibliotecavirtual.dgb.umich.mx:8083/jspui/handle/123456789/4956).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cathedral_of_Santo_Domingo&oldid=1287034123"
