Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
period, nor would the walls have been
able to support such weight.
Jesuit brother Phillipe Lemer offered an in-
genious solution. Cedar was brought from
the Jesuit
reducciones
in Misiones Province.
Using wooden pegs, the builders crafted the
frame of an inverted hull of a ship to form
the roof. The ribs were coated with gold, and
the spaces in between were filled in with
tiles adorned by colorful arabesques and
branches of leaves. Construction took
nearly 12 years to complete. Amazingly, the
roof has remained watertight after 300
years and the original pegs are still in place.
Incidentally, the church's sacristy and
retablo
were also made from cedar. These,
however, were moved to the Cathedral upon
the expulsion of the Jesuits and later to the
Church of Tulumba.
A similar system was used to form the roof of
the
Capilla Doméstica
(Domestic Chapel
)
next door, which was completed three years
earlier. In its case, canes of a native wood that
had been bound together with leather straps
and then plastered over and covered with
painted cloth. The chapel's baroque alter is also
made of cedar from Misiones.
After leaving the Chapel, turn right on Caseros
and head towards Independencia, where you'll
make a left. Your tour of the Manzana de las
Luces continues with the
Monasterio de las
Carmelitas Descalzas de San José
(the
Church and Convent of Carmelite Nuns). Also
