The Basilica Metropolitan Cathedral of Lima and Primate of Peru, otherwise Lima Metropolitan Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in the Plaza Mayor of downtown Lima, Peru. This third and current Cathedral of Lima was built between 1602 and 1797. It is dedicated to St John, Apostle and Evangelist.
Location in the city
The Basilica Cathedral of Lima occupies the east side of the Plaza Mayor of Lima, on Calle Gradas de la Catedral, block 2 of the current Jirón Augusto Wiese (former Jirón Carabaya).
History
The Cathedral of Lima was built on the site of the Inca shrine of the Puma Inti and the palace of the Cuscoan prince Sinchi Puma, a direct descendant of the Inca Sinchi Roca .
When Francisco Pizarro founded Lima, he assigned a plot of land to the church, making Sinchi Puma renounce his assets on paper certified by a notary, so that the occupation of the site chosen for the church would not mean usurpation of ownership.
In 1535 Pizarro laid the first stone and carried, in a public demonstration of faith and humility, the first wood for the construction of the church (first cathedral), which was built under the patronage of Our Lady of the Assumption, finishing the construction in 1538 and inaugurated on March 11, 1540, placing the Blessed Sacrament for the first time that day.
After the disputes between Diego de Almagro and Pizarro, and after having established the Viceroyalty of Peru, Pope Paul III, taking into account the growth of the city of Lima, issued a bull on May 14, 1541 creating the Diocese of Lima and raising the small church to the category of cathedral which began to be built in 1542 during the government of Cristóbal Vaca de Castro. Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui, daughter of the founder of Lima, contributed the considerable sum of five thousand golden pesos for the construction of the new cathedral, which came to cost fifteen thousand golden pesos, thanking the King of Spain through a real cédula of 19 March 1552.
On October 8, 1549, the Cabildo de Lima discussed that it would be convenient for the cathedral to have a clock and decreed that one be purchased that had been brought from Spain at the time.
With the changes introduced by the peacemaker Pedro de la Gasca to give it greater distinction, the new church (second cathedral) begun by Cristóbal Vaca de Castro was inaugurated in 1552 by Archbishop Jerónimo de Loayza. This was a small building -9 x 19 m.-, very modest and narrow, and for its foundations reddish stone was brought from a quarry in Lunahuaná. The new cathedral later had Saint John the Evangelist as its patron saint.
A large cathedral
Later, when the city of Lima became an Archbishopric, the construction of a new cathedral was considered in accordance with the rise in status of the episcopate of Lima, as well as with its population growth. In 1564 Archbishop Jerónimo de Loayza decided on a sumptuous building to rival the most famous cathedrals in Spain (such as Seville Cathedral then, and now the largest in Spain), thus beginning a change in dimensions. The work began with the demolition of the primitive adobe walls, but the new construction would not be completed.
Master builder Alonso Gonzales Beltrán was given the task, in 1564, of designing a large church with three naves and side chapels. But his project, inspired by the Seville Cathedral, turned out to be too grandiose and costly.
When Viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almanza arrived, in 1581, being Archbishop of Lima Toribio de Mogrovejo, arranged for a new cathedral to be built and in 1585 the Trujilloan architect Francisco Becerra, who had made plans for several buildings in Mexico and Quito, was called from Cusco, where, at the time, he was working, and was in charge of the construction of the third cathedral. Becerra made a new plan (considered to be the plan on which the existing cathedral is based) that took, in part, the cathedrals of Jaén and Seville as models. The first had three naves, like the one in Lima, the second had five, but there are doors in the arms of the crossing, three doors in the main façade and a side courtyard called, as in the Cathedral of Lima, the Patio de los Naranjos, which is reached through the side door that is to the left. The definitive layout of the cathedral, made by Becerra, resulted in a Renaissance-style church, with a wide floor plan and 3 large naves and two side chapels.
In 1602, the church was still "an old shack-type, covered with straw with much indecency" according to a letter that Philip III of Spain sent to Archbishop Toribio de Mogrovejo in which he urged him to hurry up with the construction work.