The Iglesia de San Francisco 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 * Chris ...

located in La Serena,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It was declared a

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

of Chile in 1977.

History

The origins of the church go back to 1563 when the

Franciscan Order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

arrived in La Serena. The construction of the present church began in 1590. It was built by Fray Francisco Medina, Juan Carbero and Francisco Román using

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

quarried from Peñuelas Alto and wood from Fray Jorge Forest. The church was inaugurated on December 25, 1627. It was the only church that was not torched by a group of pirates led by

Bartholomew Sharp Bartholomew Sharp (c. 1650 – 29 October 1702) was an English buccaneer and privateer. His career of piracy lasted seven years (1675–1682). In the Caribbean he took several ships, and raided the Gulf of Honduras and Portobelo. He took command ...

in 1680. The church was damaged by the

1730 Valparaíso earthquake The 1730 Valparaíso earthquake occurred at 04:45 local time (08:45 UTC) on July 8. It had an estimated magnitude of 9.1–9.3 and triggered a major tsunami with an estimated magnitude of 8.75, that inundated the lower parts of Valparaíso. The ...

. The restoration work was completed in 1755. Another earthquake in 1796 provoked the collapse of the tower. The cloister was seized by the government in 1824 and was used as a

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAES g ...

for a few years, which operated under the name Casa de Moneda de Coquimbo. In 1858 the cloister was returned to the Franciscan Order. Around 1870, the Spanish colonial roof tiles were replaced with wood shingles. From 1878 the church underwent several alterations. The tower of

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

masonry was partially demolished, leaving only the dado and the first stage. The original

plan A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. F ...

was modified. The main facade was remodeled with the addition of three symmetrical doors, changing the architectural style to

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 ...

. The church was re-inaugurated on October 1, 1899. Its main facade was plastered in 1913 and the 1922 Vallenar earthquake destroyed the tower. In 1923 was built a reinforced concrete tower. The 1975 Coquimbo earthquake badly damaged the church. The concrete tower was demolished in 1975 and the stucco was removed from the church, leaving exposed the original stone.

References

{{coord, -29.9046, -71.2497, type:landmark_region:CL, display=title La Serena, Chile Roman Catholic churches in Chile