San Juan Cathedral

cat­e­dral-de-san-juan

San Juan Cathedral. Click on image to see it larger.

San Juan Cathe­dral. Click on image to see it larger.

Across the street from El Con­ven­to Hotel is San Juan Cathe­dral, the old­est church in Puer­to Rico and pos­si­bly in the New World.  At first glance, the church doesn’t look old at all.  How­ev­er, the orig­i­nal struc­ture was built in 1521 under the super­vi­sion of Alon­so Man­so, a Span­ish bish­op who was the first to arrive in the New World in 1513.

The orig­i­nal build­ing was a thatch-roofed chapel made of wood that fell prey to a vicious hur­ri­cane that rav­aged the city on Octo­ber 4, 1526.  Recon­struc­tion start­ed that same year and a new stone build­ing was fin­ished in 1529.  Once again, in 1615, a hur­ri­cane blew away the building’s roof, which led to fur­ther restora­tion dur­ing the 17th cen­tu­ry.  In 1917 it was once again restored under bish­op William Jones to its present day appearance.

San Juan Cathe­dral is a rare exam­ple of medieval con­struc­tion in the New World.  The remains of Span­ish con­quis­ta­dor and Puer­to Rico’s first gov­er­nor Juan Ponce de León were moved to a mar­ble crypt at the Cathe­dral in 1908.

In 1973, the Roman Catholic Church declared San Juan Cathe­dral a Minor Basil­i­ca, a dis­tinc­tion held by no oth­er church on the Island.

Orlando Mergal buys all his photo equipment at B&H

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