ECUADOR, CUENCA: OLD TOWN

 March 27, 2022

The historical center of the city of Cuenca has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The official name of the city is Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca. The name Cuenca, which means "basin" in Spanish, refers to its position in a broad valley in the Andes. Cuenca was built by the Spaniards atop the ruins of Tumebamba, an Incan city destroyed in a civil war just before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.

The city's coat of arms includes the words Primero Dios y Despues Vos, which translates as "First God and then you." 

There are many beautiful buildings in the older part of town, and some date to the colonial era. Others are more recent. Our first stop was the San Francisco Church, largely constructed in the 19th century. The clock tower was added in 1930 and includes the Latin phrase Ora Pro Nobis ("Pray for us") just above the clock.

 

The Stations of the Cross were especially beautiful. Here are two.

Along with all the tourists, we noticed a lot of locals in the plaza in front of the church. This woman has a large load on her back and is wearing the traditional Ecuadorian clothing of a full, embroidered skirt and a Panama hat.  (Panama hats, by the way, originated right here in Cuenca, not in Panama.)

Just around the corner is a large flower market. Cuenca is a major exporter of flowers to the United States and Europe.

Our guide Javier told us that Ecuador also supplies 70% of the bananas consumed in the US, and that 25% of the banana crop typically goes to Ukraine and Russia, who are currently at war, so Ecuador is not sending them there, causing the farmers a lot of financial hardship. 

Next, we visited the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, aka "The New Cathedral." Construction of what most consider to be Cuenca's most beautiful church began in 1885 and continued for almost 100 years. It has a capacity of 9,000, which was just 1,000 less than the entire population of Cuenca when construction started.

The columns that frame the entrance are made of beautiful local marble.

It looks very solid, very square, and very Romanesque, doesn't it? We learned that those funky square towers were actually designed to be much taller, but the architect made a huge mistake in his calculations. Had the towers been finished, the foundation of the church would not have been able to bear the weight.

The cathedral was closed for mass, but Javier took us around the corner to get this view. What??!! Where did those gorgeous baby-blue Renaissance domes come from? They were hiding behind the truncated towers!

Later in the day we got this view from the rooftop restaurant where we were eating dinner. I just couldn't get over the startling beauty of those tiled domes tucked behind the front towers. There are a total of six domes, three tall and three low.

Even later, we got to go inside, just before the evening mass. But first, admire the door surrounded by pink carrera marble from Italy (This is not the door that lets tourists in) and the many shades of marble in what I think is the sidewalk

Once inside, I was a little disappointed. The interior did not have the same splendor as the massive towers and domes of the cathedral on the exterior. Yes, the soaring ceilings and complex vaults were nice, but the dome had plaster decorations, the art was mostly boring, there was no organ, and the floor was very generic. It didn't match the promise of the architecture.

Nevertheless, there were some unique things that set it apart.

Statues of Pope John Paul II and Christ were not too far from each other. Based on their elevation, there is no question which one is more important.

The "baldaquino," or the canopy placed over the main altar, is carved from cedar and completely covered with gold leaf. It imitates the canopy of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and was the best thing in the cathedral.

The cathedral has eleven altars on the side walls. The Altar of the Santísimo, constructed of marble and one of the most visited altars of the Cathedral, is where daily mass is celebrated.

At the top of the altar are three figures who represent the Holy Trinity.

A model shows what the cathedral towers would have looked like had they been built.  

And that's all that really grabbed my attention. Too bad!

I have no idea what this building is--maybe a bank?--but I love the corner orientation and the marble façade. 

Or how about another corner building, equally ornate? It appears that it houses some kind of medical clinic.

We had seen the New Cathedral, so we needed to visit the Old Cathedral, more formally known as Iglesia del Sagrario, or "Church of the Tabernacle." Construction started on it in 1557, using stones from the ruins of Tumebamba for the foundation. Once it was built, only Spaniards could worship here. Indigenous people had to either stay outside or worship elsewhere.

The New Cathedral is a fully functioning church, but the Old Cathedral now serves as a religious art museum and a venue for cultural events.

In some ways I liked the Old Cathedral better than the New. Maybe it is because I was so taken by this dramatic turquoise blue and warm pink color combination. These pictures look forward towards the altar.

The organ was added in 1739 and is in a loft over the main entrance.

High and low: the elevated pulpit and steps to what I assumed was the crypt.

The museum had some life-sized dioramas from the life of Christ.

This one of the Last Supper is my favorite.

But the building itself, rather than the art museum, was what I loved the most. Look at all this beautiful woodwork!

Back outside . . . 

The plaza that these buildings surround is a natural gathering place.

After another activity in the afternoon, we returned to the plaza area for a late lunch/early dinner at a rooftop restaurant Bob had noticed. The view was wonderful. I already included a photo earlier of the New Cathedral that I took from the restaurant. This photo is looking the other way.

The meal in that restaurant was one of the best meals of our trip. The appetizers included vegetable salad with goat cheese, calamari rings, and octopus.

Among the four of us, our main dishes were steak (Bob), a very tall burger (Geneil), a loaded sandwich (Terry), and chicken in cream sauce with roasted cauliflower (Judy).

Our hotel was just a few blocks from the plaza, so a few hours later we walked to the plaza to take one more look at the cathedral.

Of course, we needed gelato to top off a wonderful day.