The Church of Saint Michael Garicoits (), popularly known as Iglesia de los Vascos (Spanish for "the church of the Basque people") is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

Montevideo, Uruguay Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern coa ...

History

The origins of this temple date back to 1856, when the first Betharram Fathers arrived. An important part of the social and religious life of Basque immigrants was linked with this church for decades; services were held in

Euskera Basque ( ; ) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque is classified as a language isol ...

back then. The church, designed by French architect

Víctor Rabú Víctor Rabu (1834 – 24 March 1907) was a French architect. Career He was an exponent of eclectical historicism. He built a notable number of churches in Uruguay, for that reason he was known as "The Lord of the Churches": * Iglesia de los Con ...

in eclectic historicist style, was consecrated in 1870. It is dedicated to their founder, St. Michael Garicoits, and to the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

of the Virgin Mary (f which there is a Latin inscription over the entrance). The parish was established on 30 October 1919.

References

Centro, Montevideo 1919 establishments in Uruguay Roman Catholic churches completed in 1870 Roman Catholic church buildings in Montevideo 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Uruguay {{uruguay-RC-church-stub