Santo Domingo Cathedral is 482 Years Old today

AlterEgo

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The oldest cathedral in the Americas/New World is 482 years old today.

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Nuestra Catedral Primada de América, cumple hoy 482 años de consagrada

La catedral de Santo Domingo es la más antigua de América, construida por mandato del papa Julio II en 1504.

Sede de la Arquidiócesis de Santo Domingo, su construcción comenzó en 1512, bajo el gobierno pastoral del primer obispo de Santo Domingo, fray García Padilla, que nunca llegó a la isla; sobre la base de planos del arquitecto Alonso de Rodríguez.

Parados los trabajos, continuaron con un nuevo diseño por Luis de Moya y Rodrigo de Liendo en el 1522 con intervención del obispo Alejandro Geraldini.

El arquitecto Alonso González, inspirándose en la Catedral de Sevilla, concluyó parcialmente la iglesia en el 1540.

Sucesivamente Alonso de Fuenmayor, impulsó los trabajos y el 31 de agosto del año 1541 fue consagrada.

En 1546 el papa Paulo III, la elevó al rango de Catedral Metropolitana y Primada de América a petición del rey Carlos I de España.

En la segunda mitad del siglo XVI, en el lado sur fue construido el sector del Claustro, con las celdas de los canónicos; otro ejemplo se encuentra en la Catedral de Salamanca en España.

En el 1547 se interrumpieron los trabajos de la torre campanario, porque su altura superando la Torre del Homenaje, había dado disturbios a los centinelas.

Fue cuartel general de las tropas de Sir Francis Drake durante su invasión de 1586, quien la saqueó. Al parecer en el 1665 hubo una segunda consagración.

Inicialmente sin capillas, en el 1740 tenía 9 y actualmente posee 14. Merecen mención especial las capillas de Alonso de Suazo, de Rodrígo de Bastídas, de Geraldini y la de Diego Caballero, así como la cripta de los Arzobispos y la capilla Bautismal lateral.

Entre las obras, el cuadro de N. S. de la Antigua, donado por el Almirante. El órgano fue llevado a Magdeburgo en 1850.

La arquitectura del edificio de la catedral de Santo Domingo se caracteriza por estilo gótico con bóvedas nervadas, sólidas paredes y tres puertas, dos de ellas góticas en contraste con la tercera y principal de estilo gótico plateresco.

La catedral contiene un vasto tesoro artístico constituido con retablos, cuadros (entre ellos una tabla de la Virgen de la Altagracia datada en 1523), ebanistería antigua, mobiliario, monumentos y lápidas funerarias, entre otros objetos. Se destacan los mausoleos de los arzobispos del período colonial, también es de mencionarse la lápida funeraria de Simón Bolívar, uno de los antecesores del Libertador.

En la catedral se albergaron durante un tiempo los restos de Cristóbal Colón los cuales se mudaron al Faro a Colón en 1992, para la celebración del 500 aniversario de la llegada de los españoles a nuestra isla.

El valioso trono arzobispal, de estilo plateresco está fechado en 1540. Formaba parte del coro bajo, desmantelado a finales del pasado siglo para colocar el monumento de mármol en que se guardaron los restos de Cristóbal Colón.

La Catedral está construida con piedra calcárea, si bien algunos muros son de mampostería y ladrillos, y cuenta con doce capillas laterales, tres naves libre y una nave principal. La cubierta de la nave central es a dos aguas. Las de las naves laterales está constituida por bóvedas de crucería que se acusan al exterior, como si se tratara de cúpulas semiesféricas. La longitud mayor de la basílica es de 54 m en la nave central hasta el fondo del presbiterio. El ancho de las tres naves es de 23 m. La altura mayor de piso a bóveda alcanza los 16 metros, y el área construida sobrepasa los 3.000 metros cuadrados. Catorce capillas laterales fueron construidas a lo largo de la historia de la catedral.

El entorno de la catedral está formulado en tres espacios independientes, al norte la Plaza de Armas, el atrio almenado es como una antesala que marca el ingreso principal al conjunto religioso. Al sur la claustra llamada Plazoleta de los Curas. Los anexos alrededor del patio permiten un pasaje llamado Callejón de los Curas.

Texto: fuente externa

 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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To think it was almost destroyed by the English pirate Francis Drake in 1586. Thanks SD's residents for saving it by complying with the ransom he asked for by all the ladies giving their jewels and many other things taken by him, including the original bronze bells. While much of the cathedral was left alone, the main nave was completely desecrated and it form his "headquarters" while he had the city under his control. The desecration of the cathedral and all the other churches in SD is a major reason for the reaction of the King of Spain once he got the message of what happened (aka, the attempted invasion of England by the Spanish Armada, too bad a storm sunk all the boats while they were heading from Spain to London to start the invasion.)

A little known fact, though still visible from Parque Colón, is part of a cannonball that was fired from outside the walls of the city and fell on the roof of the cathedral. It didn't explode, hence the cathedral was destroyed. Apparently, there is a confusion regarding how it got there. I've heard some say that cannonball was fired from one of the boats as Frances Drake was attempting to invade the city (which eventually he did.) I've also heard it was fired by the Haitian forces during the siege Dessalines subjected the city in an attempt to invade it in 1805 (which he eventually couldn't do, had he done it the cathedral and the rest of the Colonial Zone wouldn't exist today as his plan was to destroy the city.) Take your pick, 1586 or 1805.

Anyway, many other things have occurred such as earthquakes, hurricanes, etc and none have destroyed the cathedral. Not even the ravages of time itself.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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Well, maybe that one is the oldest..... who knows ??
Not the oldest cathedral.

I think from your first post regarding the age of the cathedral it was clear you didn’t know the difference between a church and a cathedral. Lets not get into what makes a basilica a, well, basilica.

Not everyone is ignorant on that topic.

Quick trivia: What is the first archdiocese of the New World?

How can a archdiocese exist without a cathedral?

Aaah…


PS. I get it that many people here are athiests and those that became one or an agnostic may not come from a Catholic background, hence the ignorance in this topic. With that said, many Catholics don’t know much of the difference either, but that’s another topic.
 
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johne

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Jun 28, 2003
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Not the oldest cathedral.

I think from your first post regarding the age of the cathedral it was clear you didn’t know the difference between a church and a cathedral. Lets not get into what makes a basilica a, well, basilica.

Not everyone is ignorant on that topic.

Quick trivia: What is the first archdiocese of the New World?

How can a archdiocese exist without a cathedral?

Aaah…


PS. I get it that many people here are athiests and those that became one or an agnostic may not come from a Catholic background, hence the ignorance in this topic. With that said, many Catholics don’t know much of the difference either, but that’s another topic.
The devil BTW is in the details. LOL. This info regarding "cathedral/church" is correct and all cities across the world point out in their tourist promotions claiming rights one way or another. My home city is Sav. Ga. that lays claims to " oldest cathedral (in the eastern part of the U.S. I believe). When I first moved there I thought...BS. I was wrong after a bit of research showed..."cathedral".
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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I doubt many people can differentiate between a church, a cathedral and a basilica .... or care to, for that matter
It's very important for anyone claiming it isn't the oldest church when all it says is that it's the first cathedral of the New World.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
14,692
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The devil BTW is in the details. LOL. This info regarding "cathedral/church" is correct and all cities across the world point out in their tourist promotions claiming rights one way or another. My home city is Sav. Ga. that lays claims to " oldest cathedral (in the eastern part of the U.S. I believe). When I first moved there I thought...BS. I was wrong after a bit of research showed..."cathedral".
It was the Vatican that gave the right of the cathedral in Santo Domingo to claim it's the oldest such in the New World. That was in 1920, well before mass tourism was a thing and before the Colonial Zone received many tourists.

Everything is about the details. Most visited place in the Caribbean is simply a place that receives more tourists than elsewhere in the Caribbesn, even if it's one more thsn somewhere else. The tallest mountain in the Caribbean is simply one that is the highest even if very newrby is another peak that is almost as high. Etc.
 

william webster

Rest In Peace WW
Jan 16, 2009
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Here, slug it out people




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Santo Domingo

The oldest church in the “New World”, Catedral Primada de America, can be found in the heart of the oldest European city in the Americas: La Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Its foundation stone was laid by Diego Columbus (Christopher's firstborn son) in 1510. It was completed in 1540.
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Review of Cathedral of Santa María la Menor |



The Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo is dedicated to St. Mary of the Incarnation. It is the first and oldest cathedral in the Americas, begun in 1504 and was completed in 1550.