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The Church and Convent of los Dominicos of the Colonial City of
Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...
in the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
, is the oldest
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
building in continuous use in the
Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...
, and also, according to the UNESCO, it was the headquarters of the first university in the Americas, which was called the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino. Today it is part of the Colonial City complex, as a
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
.


History

The Church and Convent of los Dominicos is one of the oldest European buildings in the American continent. Its construction begins with the arrival of the
Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...
in
Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...
, around 1510. By 1517, the convent was inhabited by the friars, although it was not yet finished. In 1530 the church was in the completion stage, between the years 1531–1532, by Carmonese architects Antón and Alonso Gutiérrez; its official inauguration took place, with the presence of the friars Pedro de Córdoba, Reginaldo de Montesino,
Bartolomé de las Casas Bartolomé de las Casas, OP ( ; ; 11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a 16th-century Spanish landowner, friar, priest, and bishop, famed as a historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman then became a Dominican friar ...
and Antonio de Montesinos, the latter, he was the one who said the famous ''Sermón de Adviento'' in 1511, and who reprimanded the court of Diego Columbus for the mistreatment of the Natives, thus beginning the so-called ''Derecho de Gentes'', which became one of the main controversies of the 16th century. thus generating the first controversy of the
New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
. In 1534 the convent began its classes, and in 1538 it became the first university in the Americas, which was called the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino and later the Primate University of America, which today we know as the
Autonomous University of Santo Domingo In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one' ...
. (UASD). This began under the mandate of the ''Bula In Apostolatus Culmine'', which was blessed by Pope Paul III, this university also had the characteristic of the
University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is t ...
. One of the main specialties of this university was
Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
, from which great important figures of the colonial life of the time emerged. Great personalities from the Antilles and Mainland were trained at this university. During the 1540s, the church reached one of its greatest peaks, in this area of ​​study and university education and training. The church and convent have a beautiful façade, with great splendor, since the Gothic,
Isabelline Gothic The Isabelline style, also called the Isabelline Gothic ( es, Gótico Isabelino), or Castilian late Gothic, was the dominant architectural style of the Crown of Castile during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and ...
and Baroque architecture stands out, which greatly predominated in the constructions of the time, not only in the country but also throughout Americas. In the building there are valuable images and statues, which were the work of the Sevillian brothers Jorge and Ajejo Fernández, and at the beginning of the 16th century, it had five altarpieces by one of the most famous Spanish painters of the colonial era,
Juan Martínez Montañés Juan Martínez Montañés (March 16, 1568 – June 18, 1649), known as el Dios de la Madera (''the God of Wood''), was a Spanish sculptor, born at Alcalá la Real, in the province of Jaén. He was one of the most important figures of the Sevill ...
. Over the years, to this day, the church has undergone major changes and severe damage to its architecture, one of which was in 1545 with the passage of a hurricane, and during the passage of the
pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
Francis Drake, it was the only building that did not suffer any damage, since the famous pirate of the time respected the sanctuaries. During the years 1684 and 1673, two earthquakes occurred on the island, respectively, which hit the island hard, destroying its roof and some rooms. In 1746 the building was restored again, with a different structure on each of its facades, thus imposing the Baroque style. In 1825, the church was closed by the Haitian government, although some time later it was a shelter for several religious orders and in 1954 the Dominicans returned to the country and recovered their old home. Inside the Church is the Chapel of
Our Lady of the Rosary Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is a Marian title. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October in the General Rom ...
, which was built in 1649. In this chapel, the Virgin of the Rosary, who is the patron saint of the Dominicans, was venerated. High on the wall of the eastern length, a grave (the only one on the island) is a further echo of Isabeline Gothic. In the modifications of 1746, the chapel was rebuilt by the new owners of the chapel, the Campuzano Polanco family, who replaced the wooden frame of the nave with the current barrel vault. This vault of the chapel was decorated with the twelve signs of the zodiac around the sun, and for this reason it is also called the "Chapel of the Zodiac". Also in the vault there are other characters such as the
Twelve Olympians upright=1.8, Fragment of a relief (1st century BC1st century AD) depicting the twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in procession; from left to right: Hestia (scepter), Hermes (winged cap and staff), Aphrodite (veiled), Ares (helmet and s ...
who represent the four seasons. This chapel is unique in the Americas of its kind and one of the three vaults with astrological representations that currently exist in the world, together with the Chapel of
Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...
and Río Seco.


Location

The Church and Convent of los Dominicos is located on Calle Padre Billini, in the Colonial area, in the city of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, Dominican Republic.


Gallery

File:Church and Covent of los Dominicos, Santo Domingo 1940.jpg, Church and Convent of los Dominicos in a photo of 1940. File:Iglesia y Convento Dominicos CCSD 07 2018 0534.jpg, Bell tower File:Iglesia y Convento Dominicos CCSD 07 2018 0530.jpg, Detail of the upper part of the main entrance File:Santo Domingo - Iglesia de los Dominicos 0510.JPG, Rose window and
azulejo ''Azulejo'' (, ; from the Arabic ''al- zillīj'', ) is a form of Spanish and Portuguese painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework. ''Azulejos'' are found on the interior and exterior of churches, palaces, ordinary houses, schools, and nowadays, r ...
s in the facade File:Rib valult Church Convento Dominicos CCSD 03 2019 3633.jpg, Rib vault File:Interior Church Convento Dominicos CCSD 03 2019 3677.jpg, Interior File:Convento Dominicos CCSD 03 2019 3624.jpg, Cloister File:Santo Domingo - Iglesia de los Dominicos 0678.jpg, Chapel File:Santo Domingo - Iglesia de los Dominicos 0669.JPG, Colonial painting File:Santo Domingo - Iglesia de los Dominicos 0674.jpg, File:Santo Domingo - Iglesia de los Dominicos 0693.JPG, Grave slab of the Campuzano Polanco family (made in 1758)A sepulchral slab, made of beautiful Genoese marble, bears the rays of a great sun under the family coat of arms, an obvious allusion to the vault; says: “THIS BURIAL BELONGS TO SS. CAMPUSANOS POLANCOS DE LA ISLAND AND CITY/OF S. DOM NG LIKE THE CHAPEL IN WHICH IT IS. THIS SLAB WAS ORDERED TO BE PLACED BY MR. REG DORDEAN OF D CA CIUDAD D JOSEPH, CAMPUSANO YEAR 1758". Don Juan José Polanco Campuzano, brother of the Dominican Provincial Gregorio Polanco Campuzano, became rich between 1726 and 1731, arming Corsos, see PALM: A vault with cosmo-theological representations, page 222. File:Plan of the Church and Convent of los Dominicos (Santo Domingo).jpg, Plan of the convent File:Homeless Jesus CCSD 07 2018 9748.jpg, Replica of the "''Homeless Jesus''" sculpture of Timothy Schmalz at front of the convent


See also

* Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino *
List of colonial buildings in Santo Domingo This is a list of the preserved colonial buildings in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the Americas; for this reason, according to the UNESCO, many buildin ...
* List of oldest buildings in the Americas


References


External links


Church and Convent of los Dominicos' Official website
{{coord missing, Dominican Republic Roman Catholic churches in Santo Domingo Ciudad Colonial (Santo Domingo) 1532 establishments in the Spanish Empire Roman Catholic churches completed in 1532 1532 establishments in North America Educational institutions established in the 1530s Gothic architecture in the Dominican Republic Isabelline architecture in the Dominican Republic Baroque architecture in the Dominican Republic Dominican convents