San Pedro de Andahuaylillas, Peru

 

Welcome in 2025 to one of my most exciting posts ever -  about the "Sistine Chapel  of the Americas" 

 I know I am never going to get there in person, but through an  amazing Website, using the most advanced 360 degree  technology, I really feel I know the place. It is very special. Here is the link - scroll down to the 360 degree pictures.

Andahuaylillas is about 30 miles from Cuzco. A small chapel was begun in 1570 on the site of the present apse and sanctuary  on the ruins of an Inca shrine. A nave and facade were added and completed in 1606. The walls are adobe with a pitched roof of cane and timber. There is a separate stone bell tower. The portal is brick with the four Church Fathers in painted niches. 

You can take a tour of the situation, exterior and interior with the little six minute video below.

The barn-like nave has a sloping roof plastered and painted over and with long supporting wooden beams. The walls  have large paintings on canvas in fancy gilded frames. The effect is overpowering. The lower part of the wallsand the choir loft are painted with elaborate designs in tempera (pigments mixed with a water soluble type of binder such as egg yolk).

Ceiling over the sanctuary

The sanctuary is on a slightly raised floor with a grand arch decaorated in 1631 and magnificent Mudejar style  polychrome ceiling. It uses kur-kur a pre-Hispanic method of construction combining cane, straw and mud instead of wood.

The interior murals were mainly by Luis de Riano, a student of Angelino Medoro. They were painted in the 1620s. The programme for the painted murals was by Father Juan Perez de Bocanegra, well known as the great linguist who published a Quechua dictionary. It is interesting to discover that he made some changes to traditional Christian themes for the sake of accomodating Andean cosmological ideas for local audiences. Specifically, the Annunciation in the choir shows the Virgin being impregnated by the rising sun rather than a hovering dove. Other Andean cosmological signs such as the Pleiades (star cluster) and other symbols are also included.

 Over the years there has been considerable damage from earthquakes, insect infestation and general derioration of the fabric. In 2008 it was included in the World Monuments Watch which has led to significant injections of funding to restore the main facade, choir, chapels, ceilings, altar, paintings on canvas and statuary.A 4 year plan with significant assistance by local youth, was completed in 2012,and has transformed the building.

Of great interest to me are the  organs at the front end of  a protruding arms of the U shaped  choir loft. They date from the first half of the 17th century and have painted canvas doors like a Gothic organ with folding wings like a triptych. The painted doors have angels playing amazing stringed instruments and drums  including guitar, bass viol and harp. 

The choir loft even opens out to a gallery outside.

There are murals on all the interior walls and ceiling. Contemporary anthems have been discovered  concerning the Incarnation. Juan Perez was also a good poet and wrote verses to Our Lady. Imagine doing a choir tour and singing here! Too late I hear myself saying!

Hear the rafters raised as  a local Children's choir and band process in with the famous  Hanaq Pacha Kusikuynin arranged by Juan Perez Bocanegra in the early 17th century in the video below.  Terrific!

For an excellent discussion about the chapel watch the little video below by the World Monuments Fund .

Francis Chapelet improvises on the organ in the video below.video 

Interior view looking back to the entrance and choir loft.

Cuzco Cathedral

I am longing to introduce more Latin American churches into this blog. This huge major one illustrates part of my dilemma. How far is it Baroque? As we shall see it has medieval and Renaissance elements, yet I believe it legitimate to include as an example of early Baroque. The countries of South America have many examples of these. I cannot claim to have visited and in my current state of health do not expect to go. The extreme altitude and thin air would not be good! I remember too clearly Mr Sacheverell Sitwell's experiences in Peru in 1960 (in Golden Wall and Mirador, Weidenfeld and Nicolson,1961). Sleepless nights and no energy. He liked Cuzco and described it as like a Spanish provincial town in Tibet. I have become fond of it already by watching the little video below. I commend this to you as an introduction.

Cuzco was the capital of the Inca empire : the remarkable civilization which preceded the Spanish invasion. The conquest of Peru  began in 1533 and the result in Cuzco is that the former temple to Viracocha was replaced by the cathedral. It was built largely from brownish stones removed from the nearby Inca stronghold of Sacsayhuaman. It was begun in 156rra0 by the Basque architect Juan Miguel de Viramendi. Twenty years later it had not progressed far so new plans were made by Francisco Becerra, the architect of Lima cathedral. Then in 1603 Bartolome Carron ewas called in to help. Progfress was slow and then there was the earthquake of 1650. Even so the structure was done by 1654 and the towers by 1659. The noble early Baroque facade importantly has a protruding central portal with layers of columns.

Sagrada Familia Church adjoining Cathedral on left

The Cathedral is unusual in that it is flanked on both sides by other churches. To the left of the front facade is the Sagrada Familia. Built in 1723 to designs by Francisco Becarra and completed 1735. There is a fine altapiece from 1737.

Iglesia del Triunfo adjoining to  right of cathedral

To the right of the Cathedral facade is the Iglesia del Triunfo. This was the first church in Cuzco dating from 1538 and again built over a ceremonial Inca building the Sunta Wai. This was the scene of a desperate battle between Spaniards and Incas earlier in the 1530s. The Spaniards were saved by the

Plateresque stylw choir stalls of cedar 1660-78 (Mark & Andrea Busse on Flickr)





Side altars (Alf Igel on Flickr)

Gives idea of atmosphere  (Alf Igel on Flickr)

Norberto Broggini plays Fantasia "Scala Celite" by Antonio de Cabrera (from the Codex Saldívar) on the Gospel organ(anonymous, first half XVII century) in the Cuzco Cathedral, Perú. This is the earliest organ piece by a south american master