The Sacred Hearts Church is a Catholic church located at 2086 Independencia Street, in El Almendral neighborhood, in Valparaíso, Chile. Staffed by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, it was built to serve as the church for the Colegio de los Sagrados Corazones de Valparaíso community. The church was declared as 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 2003, within the category of Historic Monuments.

History

Ship ''Sylphide'' arrived in Valparaíso on May 13, 1834 from Bordeaux, France, bringing as passengers four priests of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary whose final destination was the Gambier Islands, in the

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

Chrysostome Liausu Chrysostome Liausu, SS.CC., (born Charles-Auguste Liausu; 17 March 1807 – 5 September 1839) was a French Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a religious institute of the Roman Catholic Church. He helped ...

was the only of them who remained residing in Valparaíso. He formed the first community of the congregation in a port of South America. In 1837 Liausu was authorized by the Cabildo of the city to create a school, thus establishing the first private school in the independent Chile, namely the Colegio de los Sagrados Corazones de Valparaíso. In 1840, the school was moved to a site on Independencia Street, its current location, which was later enlarged by purchases of adjoining lands. A chapel was built on the site. In late 1860, the father Oliver ordered the construction of a new church, which was designed by architects Lucien Hénault and Arturo Mecking. The foundation stone was laid on May 3, 1868. The architect Juan Eduardo Fehrman took over the final construction stage between 1870 and 1872. The church was inaugurated on February 6, 1874, despite having an unfinished tower. The

2010 Chile earthquake The 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami ( es, Terremoto del 27F) occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February at 03:34 local time (06:34 UTC), having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking la ...

badly damaged the church. As a result, it had to be repaired. The restoration work included the reparation of cracked walls, repainting of interior walls, and restoration of facades. The work lasted approximately a year at a cost of $240 million, half funded by a restoration program from the

National Council of Culture and the Arts The National Council of Culture and the Arts (CNCA) was the Chilean government agency responsible for arts and cultural policy. The council was founded in 2003 and amalgamated arts and cultural policy under a single agency. It was a cabinet-level ...

Description

Located on Independencia Street, between Freire and Rodríguez streets, the church and the adjoining school have similar architectural styles and occupy an entire city block front. The facade is Romanesque and

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Revival in style, while the interior has a

character. The interior of the church includes an image named ''Cristo Tradicional'', which was carved by an Ecuadorian artist, who was visiting his son, a member of the congregation, in Valparaíso.

References

{{coord missing, Chile 1874 in Chile Buildings and structures in Valparaíso Gothic Revival church buildings in Chile Romanesque Revival architecture in Chile 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Chile Romanesque Revival church buildings