Cathedral Basilica of San Lorenzo
Santa Cruz's cathedral on the main square, with a sacred art museum and a climbable tower.
A church has stood on the main square of Santa Cruz since the town moved to the site in the sixteenth century, but the successive adobe buildings decayed. The present cathedral was begun in 1838 during the presidency of Andrés de Santa Cruz, to designs by the French architect Felipe Bertrés, and work continued in stages through the nineteenth century. The building was consecrated on 18 August 1915 and raised to the rank of minor basilica. Its brick front carries twin towers above a wide arcaded porch.
Inside, a timber roof of carved and gilded panels covers the nave, and side chapels hold images brought from the Chiquitos and Moxos missions. The cathedral museum of sacred art, named after Monsignor Carlos Gericke Suárez, keeps what is regarded as the oldest church collection in Bolivia, with silver, vestments, manuscripts and mestizo painting and carving of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A spiral stair of one hundred and twenty-six steps climbs past the clock mechanism to a viewing platform.
Highlights
- Twin-towered brick front consecrated in 1915
- Carved and gilded timber ceiling over the nave
- Museum of sacred art with mission silver and painting
- Tower stair of 126 steps to a viewpoint over the city
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