The Iglesia de las Agustinas is a

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 ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

, located in downtown Santiago, Chile. The church was declared as a National Monument in 1977.

History

The convent of the Augustine sisters was founded in 1571. It was built on a city block bounded by the present day streets of Augustinas on the north, Ahumada on the east, Bandera on the west and the Moneda on the south. Earthquakes in

1647 Events January–March * January 2 – Chinese bandit leader Zhang Xianzhong, who has ruled the Sichuan province since 1644, is killed at Xichong by a Qing archer after having been betrayed one of his officers, Liu Jinzhong. ...

and

1730 Events January–March * January 30 (January 19 O.S.) – At dawn, Emperor Peter II of Russia dies of smallpox, aged 14 in Moscow, on the eve of his projected marriage. * February 26 (February 15 O.S.) – Anna of Russia (An ...

destroyed the first churches built both at the corner of Agustinas and Ahumada streets. By this period, a segment of Moneda street was closed to form a city block between Agustinas street and the

Alameda An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada *Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan **Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile ...

. A modest third church was built on the same site. In 1850, the site was newly divided into two city blocks to join the discontinuous segments of Moneda street. Land lots were sold over the following years, leaving the Augustine sisters congregation as the owner only of the southern city block. The fourth church was planned to be built on this block. The foundation stone of the current church was laid in 1857, to a design of Vicente Larraín. Its construction was led by architect Eusebio Chelli. The first liturgies in the church were offered in 1871. A Walcker organ was installed in 1875, and the church was consecrated by the then archbishop of Santiago Mariano Casanova in 1888. The church building was damaged by the 1906 and

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 ...

earthquakes. In 1912, the congregation was relocated to a building located on

Vicuña Mackenna Avenue Avenida Vicuña Mackenna (Vicuña Mackenna Avenue) is one of the main transport arteries of Santiago, Chile, joining Santiago center with more remote urban centers such as the communes of La Florida and Puente Alto. Vicuña Mackenna Avenue begin ...

. The land was sold, except the church site, and divided into lots. The site plan included a Y-shaped street layout. The Edificio Ex Hotel Mundial, the

Santiago Stock Exchange The Santiago Stock Exchange (SSE) ( es, Bolsa de Comercio de Santiago), founded on November 27, 1893, is Chile's dominant stock exchange, and the third largest stock exchange in Latin America, behind Brazil's BM&F Bovespa, and the Bolsa Mexicana ...

Building and the Club de la Unión were built on this site.

Architecture

The church is

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

in style, influenced by the Palladian architecture. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is separated from the aisles by Venetian arcades. The main facade features four

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of c ...

columns that support a triangular

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

. It also features two corner cupolas.

References

{{coord, -33.4422, -70.6514, type:landmark_region:CL, display=title 1871 in Chile Churches in Santiago, Chile