Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Comayagua
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| Immaculate Conception Cathedral | |
|---|---|
| Catedral de Comayagua | |
Catedral de la inmaculada concepción | |
 | |
 Immaculate Conception Cathedral | |
| Location | Comayagua |
| Country | Honduras |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic Church |
| Architecture | |
| Style | Baroque |
| Years built | • 1563, first stage • 1611–1634, second stage • 1705–1711, last stage |
The Immaculate Conception Cathedral[1] (Spanish: Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción) also called Comayagua Cathedral[2][3] is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is located in the Central Square of the city of Comayagua in Honduras.[4] It is one of the oldest cathedrals in Central America, it went through construction phases that date from the 16th century until it was completed inaugurated on December 8, 1711, and blessed in 1715, and many modifications since the 18th century.[5]
Colonial era
The cathedral has more than 400 years of history, however there are not enough historical documents such as plans or drawings that speak about the construction process of the building through time. Due to this enormous problem, the historical evolution of the Cathedral of Comayagua has so far been a difficult problem to understand.
In the same way, various investigations and thanks to the Historical Archeology inside the building, it has been possible to better understand its history and the various changes and reconstructions that it has had over the centuries
By the seventeenth century the city lacked a large temple, since the only cathedral in the city was the Iglesia de la Merced, so in 1563 permission was requested to build a larger temple that would function as another cathedral of the town of Comayagua. Thus the cathedral was started.
According to the historical notes of the historian Mario Felipe Martínez, this first Cathedral was damaged around 1610 due to inclement weather, most likely due to rain storms that they caused the structure to start collapsing. So, the authorities gave the green light for the reconstruction, starting in 1611. Among its supervisors was the Spanish Bishop Alonso Vargas y Abarca, continued by Bishop Fray Juan Pérez Carpintero and finished by Bishop Fray Antonio López de Guadalupe. Many of his pieces were brought from Spain, more specifically from the city of Jaén. According to data from the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH), around 18 indigenous peoples worked on the construction of the Catholic monument.
Finally, in the 18th century, the last construction phase of the cathedral began. By 1703, the bishop spoke in his letters sent to King Felipe V that the second phase already showed signs of deterioration in its structure and it was said that it needed remodeling after seeing the poor condition of the walls, so in 1705 the third phase began. During this stage, the façade is modified, giving shape to the current one and the final shape that we all know today is finished. The cathedral was blessed in 1715.
Republican era
For the eighteenth century it was a temple, it was the largest building in the province of Honduras and for the nineteenth century it was the wedding place of General Francisco Morazán on December 30, 1825. On April 4, 1827, Comayagua was burned and looted during the Central American civil war. largely by José Nicolás Irías Midence, with the support of the president of the republic, General Manuel José Arce because they belonged to the conservative side of the Central American federal republic. As a result, the cathedral was damaged and looted by the Midence army.
In the middle of the 19th century, Monsignor Juan Felipe Zepeda took the post of bishop, who in his position designated 100,000 pesos a month from the tithes of the Holy Cathedral, for the musicians and when the aforementioned priest received an inheritance from his father who lived in Olancho He invested it in improving the cathedral, another part was given to the poor and with the rest he signed a contract with the Clamer House in London for the construction of an organ that would be donated to the cathedral.
Over the centuries, graves were made inside the temple, according to the local researcher and historian Tirso Zapata, among the deceased who are inside the cathedral are that of the bishops Don Juan Merlo de la Fuente and Fray Gaspar de Andrade which in the sixties, their bodies which possessed a cadaverous incorruptibility, were exposed to the general public in glass urns, but in 1963 the late Monsignor Bernandino Mozzarella ordered to hide them so they never became exhibited.
Its structure is made of brick and adobe walls and a tile roof with craftsmanship. It also has 10 windows that illuminate its interior and it has five bodies divided by ten cruciform pilasters that form arches. The cathedral was dedicated to Santa María, mother of Jesus and was built in the Central Plaza of the city. At the beginning of this century, it was fully restored as part of the rehabilitation project of the historic center of the city, a work directed by the IHAH, with the collaboration of the Spanish Cooperation Agency. Today the cathedral continues to be a meeting point for the people of Comayagüenses and one of its most valued historical sites, along with the other colonial churches, the churches of La Merced, San Francisco, San Sebastián and La Caridad.
