SAINT CARLOS'S CHURCH

Formerly belonging to the Jesuit Noviciate of San Antonio de Abad during the early 17th Century, it became the Church of the Real Colegio de San Carlos - Royal College of San Carlos after the expulsion of the members of the Order from the Spanish colonies.

It was rebuilt after collapsing during the Earthquake of 1746, construction that has endured until the present days. It stands out as a true example of the religious architectonic harmony and finesse that was imprinted upon the Colonial Lima of the 18th Century. In 1876 it became the Chapel of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos Major National University.

Its façade shows two bodies done in different styles. The lower one is sober whether the upper is profusely decorated with swelled pommels and undulating frames. The sideway door is a beautiful Baroque example of wood festooned with iron appliqués and presenting on each of its two doors a figurehead holding an iron ring in its mouth.

A singularity shared by all the small churches of Lima can be found on its façade. The two little towers that rise from its upper part, presenting blind arcades and topping pinnacles.

This is a one nave church, developing in the shape of a Latin cross. The arms of this cross are not too ample and upon each of its front wall an arch open.

The wooden altar stands out with its Baroque and Plateresque mixed style. The altarpiece of the altar, consisting in three bodies, has a curved boarded roof, stoutly built columns, Solomon spirals, sculpted imagery, carved woods and other ornaments.

In the year of 1924, the Church was utterly refurbished and a crypt was built below the crucible. This Crypt became the Panteón de los Próceres de la Independencia del Perú - The Pantheon of the Founding Fathers of the Independence of Peru and to reach it two marble stairways were constructed.

Location: At the corner of the Parque Universitario Univerity Park with the Jirón Azángaro Street.

NAZARENE CHURCH

The foundation of the Monasterio de las Nazarenas Monastery occurred on August 27th , 1727 by approval of the Pope Benedict XIII, and its inauguration was performed on March 18th , 1730. The Church proper was finished during the rule of the Viceroy Amat.

This Church was built over the grounds of the old Colonial ghetto of the negroes of Pachacamilla. Its portal is formed by four granite columns and the doors are of carved cedar wood.

Over the face of the depressed arch were raised the Coat of Arms that belonged to the Viceroy Amat and the Coat of Arms of the Brotherhood, showing the Holy Cross surrounded by stars.

It has two belfries with bronze bells. The central part of the altar is formed by two Tuscan pilasters grooved and gilded, holding a Baroque front, gilded and with oil paint. Inside it, like an urn, is located the figure of the Señor de los Milagros or Lord of the Miracles, painted in oil over a rough adobe wall.

According with tradition, in the year of 1651 a black slave from Angola painted over one of the walls of the barracks of the ghetto the image of a Crucified Christ. Four years later, when an earthquake ravaged the City of Lima, the piece of wall where the image was painted stood unharmed.

The same thing happened during the ferocious earthquakes that came on October 20th , 1687 and on October 28th , 1746, causing great damage to the City of Lima and the neighbouring Port of Callao. But the wall stood firm.

These facts turned the image into an object of major cult and devotion to the Peruvians. It was hence named as Señor de los Milagros and a replica of it was first taken to the streets exactly one year after the last earthquake.

Since then, every year during the month of October (the 18th, 19th and 28th), a replica of the image of the Cristo Morado or Purple Lord -as is also called due to the dominant colour in the garments of the image and the robes of the worshipers- is taken out around the streets of Lima in what has turned with time into one of the biggest religious processions of the Catholic world.

Location: 515 Jirón Huancavelica Street, at the intersection with the Avenida Tacna Avenue, 500 metres from the Main Square.
Phone: (511) 423-5718.
Visits: Monday - Sunday from 6:00 am to noontime and from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm.