Cathedral of San Jose is a majestic Roman Catholic church that belongs to the Archdiocese of Guatemala. Original Cathedral of San Jose was built in 1541. On 1669 old church of San Jose was demolished and a second sanctuary was erected in 1680 under supervision of architects Juan Pascual and Jose de Porres. Sculptures were made by a Spanish sculptore Marin de Andujar Cantos. Over a course of several decades it was renovated and reconstructed after a series of earthquakes. San Jose Cathedral was particularly badly damaged during its construction in 1680 and then again in 1773. Parts of the structure collapsed and later was reconstructed.
Location: Antigua
Ruins of old Church of San José (Antigua)
The former Catedral Primada de Santiago de los Caballeros is located on the east side of Plaza Central in the center of Old Antigua. South of it is the building complex of the old University of San Carlos, founded in 1676.
After the destruction and relocation of the old capital from Ciudad Vieja to today's Antigua Guatemala in the Panchoy Valley in 1543, a new building was built, which, however, fell victim to an earthquake in 1583. A new building was undertaken, but it was damaged after another earthquake around the middle of the 17th century and was demolished. Today's building was built between 1669 and 1678 and was consecrated in 1680, but extensive repairs to the vault are documented as early as 1718. The severe earthquake of 1773 survived only the lower part of the facade reasonably undamaged - otherwise all the vaults of the church collapsed. Since the Spanish king decided to move the city, the building was abandoned and only a small part restored as a parish church. Some of the former furniture was moved to the building of the neighboring university.
The façade, built entirely of brick and then covered with stucco, shows a three-portal triumphal arch scheme on the ground floor level, which is framed by four pairs of double columns. In the niches in between there are figures of apostles and church fathers; Above the central portal is a statue of Santiago. The church room behind it is separated from the rear part of the former cathedral by a wall. This is entered from the south side - it had three naves and a transept; the crossing was surmounted by a dome. In the area in front of the former apse, a marble slab points to the tomb of Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a soldier and chronicler of the conquest of the Aztec Empire under Hernán Cortés, located in the crypt - now buried. The ashes of the conqueror of Guatemala, Pedro de Alvarado, who died in Mexico, are said to have been buried here.