San Francisco Monastery Quito

This image began with a photograph I took in Quito, Ecuador in 1993. what you see here is the simple relatively unadorned exterior of a complex which... more

by Sarah Loft

Title

San Francisco Monastery Quito

Artist

Sarah Loft

Medium

Photograph - Digitally Painted Photograph

Description

This image began with a photograph I took in Quito, Ecuador in 1993. what you see here is the simple relatively unadorned exterior of a complex which is quite sumptuous on the inside. It's "must visit" place on a trip to Quito.

Per Wikipedia: The Church and Monastery of St. Francis (Spanish: Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco), commonly known as el San Francisco, is a 16th-century Roman Catholic complex in Quito, Ecuador. It fronts onto its namesake Plaza de San Francisco. The imposing structure has the distinction of being the largest architectural ensemble among the historical structures of colonial Latin America and for this reason is sometimes known as "El Escorial of the New World". The style evolved over almost 150 years of construction (1534-1680) through earthquakes and changes in artistic fashion. The Church houses the city's beloved Virgin of Quito (1734).

Together, Church and Convent encompass three hectares including 13 cloisters (six of them major), three churches, and a large courtyard. In total, about 40,000 square meters of construction. San Francisco follows the classical typology of medieval monasteries. The main Church is the guiding axis and from there the cloister galleries extend: the refectory, the chapterhouse, and winery. These define a quadrangular courtyard, with the four respective pandas, or galleries: that of the chapter room, the refectory, the converts, and the mandatum. In addition to the basic dependencies of a convent, there were areas devoted to health care, education, crafts, a garden, and even a jail (to maintain strict discipline). The kitchen and dispensery operated in the cloister of services.

San Francisco houses over 3,500 works of colonial art, of varied artistic styles and techniques, most notably those of the famous Quito School of art, which had it genesis precisely here. Undoubtedly the most celebrated of these is the 18th century sculpture known as the Virgin of Quito, which has long been a kind of icon of the city. Here also is a magnificent Franciscan library, described in the 17th century as the best of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Construction of the building began a few weeks after the founding of the city in 1534 and ended in 1604. The founder of the church was Franciscan missionary Jodoco Ricke. The building's construction began around 1550, sixteen years after Quito was founded by Spanish conquistadors, and was finished in approximately 1680. The building was officially inaugurated in 1605. The main cloister was added in 1605. In fact the original smaller church constructed in the sixteenth century was reoriented and dramatically expanded in the early seventeenth century, at which time the imposing facade that we see today was added.

Note: The watermark will not appear on the print you purchase.

Featured in the Christian Art and Photography group, May 2018.

Featured in the Camera Art group, May 2018.

Featured in the 500 Views group, November 2018.

Uploaded

July 11th, 2017