Church of the Society of Jesus (La Compañía)
Jesuit baroque church in Quito's historic centre, its nave lined with carved and gilded woodwork.
Work on the Jesuit church of Quito began in 1605 and continued for 160 years, making it the longest building campaign in the city's historic centre. Successive Jesuit architects and lay craftsmen shaped a Latin-cross plan with a barrel-vaulted nave, side chapels and a crossing dome. The grey volcanic stone portico on García Moreno was begun in 1722 by the German Jesuit Leonardo Deubler, halted in 1725, and resumed in 1760 by the Italian brother Venancio Gandolfi; it was finished on 24 July 1765.
The interior is the best-known expression of the Quito School, with carved cedar altarpieces, plasterwork and mudéjar-influenced patterning covered in gold leaf. Paintings by Quito masters hang in the nave and side chapels, among them works attributed to Hernando de la Cruz and Nicolás Javier de Goríbar. The church was damaged by the 1987 earthquake and by a fire on 31 January 1996 that harmed an altarpiece and left soot throughout. A long restoration ran until 2005, and a foundation now manages visits.
Highlights
- Carved volcanic-stone façade with Solomonic columns, completed 1765
- Nave, vaults and altarpieces covered in gold leaf
- Quito School paintings by Goríbar and Hernando de la Cruz
- Part of the Quito historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
![Afrique occidentale française : Cathédrale à St Louis / [photogr. Eugène] Gallois ; [photogr. reprod. par Radiguet et Massiot pour la conférence donnée par] Gallois](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Afrique_occidentale_fran%C3%A7aise_-_Cath%C3%A9drale_%C3%A0_St_Louis_-_%28photogr._Eug%C3%A8ne%29_Gallois_%3B_%28photogr._reprod._par_Radiguet_et_Massiot_pour_la_conf%C3%A9rence_donn%C3%A9e_par%29_Gallois_-_btv1b532798828.jpg/500px-thumbnail.jpg)
![[Golestan, Le Salon et Fete de l'equinode, Teheran, Iran (le Pavillion du Trone)]](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/-Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg/500px--Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg)
![Théâtre de la guerre dans l'Inde sur la coste de Coromandel / par M.B.C.T. [Monsieur Bourcet Capitaine ?] ; gravé par Croisey](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg/500px-Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg)
