Jesuit Block of Córdoba (Manzana Jesuítica)
UNESCO-listed Jesuit block of the 1600s: church, domestic chapel, colonial university and college.
The Jesuit Block occupies a single city square laid out after the order reached Córdoba in 1599. It brings together the church of the Society of Jesus, the Capilla Doméstica of 1644, the residence and Colegio Máximo that became the National University of Córdoba, and the Colegio Nacional de Monserrat. The university traces its teaching to 1613, making it one of the oldest in South America. In 2000 UNESCO inscribed the block, together with five Jesuit estancias in the province, on the World Heritage List.
Work on the church ran from 1640 to 1676 and it was consecrated in 1671. Its design is credited to the Flemish father Philippe Lemaire, a former boatbuilder, who roofed the nave with a barrel vault of Paraguayan cedar shaped like an inverted ship's hull. The carved cedar retablo and the decoration of the Capilla Doméstica show local craftsmen working in an American baroque manner. The old rectorate now houses the university history museum, with its Jesuit library, cartography room and graduation hall.
Highlights
- Cedar nave vault built in the form of an inverted ship's hull
- Capilla Doméstica of 1644 with painted and carved decoration
- Old rectorate housing the university's Jesuit library and maps
- Inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage in 2000
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