Dolores said:
Definitely, the Basilica La Altagracia is a religious and architectural monument that would be famous worldwide if it had been built anywhere else. Given that it was built many years before Punta Cana became a tourist destination, it has not received all the attention it deserves. It is a fascinating and imponent sample of tropical architecture. Take your time to observe all the details.
Stroll down the main street leading out of the Basilica and short walk will bring you to the Iglesia de San Dionisio, where the cult to the Virgen de la Altagracia began.
Actually,
The basilica is not a truly tropical architectural example, but rather a brutist arquitectural example, though this one is more imposing and unique than most brutist structures.
The basilica looks like a pair of praying hands from the outside. The inside there are many references to oranges, which is grow in the region and usually abundant during Virgin of Altagracia's day. This structure came from the mind of french architects Dunover de Segonazc and Pierre Dupré. The structure was inagurated on January 21, 1971, but construction had started during Trujillo's reign. At the time of the inaguration, the basilica was sorround by fields to the north, east, and west, and to the south was the northern fringes of the really small town of Higuey, at the time. Today, modern Higuey sorrounds the Basilica on all sides.
Inside the basilica is a painting of the virgin of highest grace (Altagracia) of 33.5 centimeters of width and 45 centimeters of height. The painting was created in Spain circa the end of 15th, beginings of 16ths centuries (late 1400s, early 1500s). The main entry door is of bronce covered with 24K gold and was santified by Pope John Paul II in Rome. The bell tower has 45 bells of bronce and its the largest bell tower in the western hemisphere, so I am told. It is visible for miles when approaching Higuey.
The structure is impressive, more so on the inside, since its design seems to defy what brutist architecture was thought to not be able to do, bending and such with hardly any corners visible on the inside. For those who say that Dominicans lack faith, they should make a trip to the basilica on the virgin of Altagracia's day. It would be very hard to make the same assumption afterwards.
This structure was built to replace the Iglesia of San Donisio, which was built in 1572. This structure is still standing, albeit it is dwarfed by the monumental structure of the "new" cathedral.
I am not keen to brutist architecture (because brutist architecture is pretty ugly), but this structure truly is impressive, except on dark cloudy days when the structure reminds me of frankenstein, for some reason.:surprised
-NAL
BTW, for other examples of brutist architecture within Santo Domingo, take a look (make a it a quick look, this structure deserves the ugliest building in the world award) at the Huacal tower. It was constructed in 1973 to house certain government offices and was the tallest structure in the country for quite a few years. Extremely ugly building that needs some bright paints soon! I can't stand that structure!
On a lighter and more ethetically pleasing note, the Banco Central tower is another example of a much more simple elegant style of brutist architecture, built in 1976.