Black and White of Escuela de Cristo, aka Parroquia Nuestra Señora de los Remedios

One more entry on our black and white series of the churches in and around Antigua Guatemala at night. This is the façade of Parroquia Nuestra Señora de los Remedios better known as Escuela de Cristo. Yesterday we saw an inside view of la Escuela de Cristo. This parroquia, parish, is located on the southeast quadrant of Antigua Guatemala, about 8 blocks from Central Park, between Iglesia de San Francisco El Grande and El Calvario church. Las Capuchinas monastery and Escuela de Cristo are two church buildings that are different from the rest of the churches in Antigua Guatemala because they were built with simple stone façades with no stucco, except for the bell housings. Escuela de Cristo and Las Capuchinas are the masterpieces of colonial architect Diego de Porres, mulato libre as noted on his birth certificate. The construction of this parroquia was finally finished in 1730.

Can you guess why it was SO important to note the fact that Diego de Porres was a mulato libre on his birth certificate?

Here’s a little quote from an interesting article about Diego de Porres on Prensa Libre‘s web site. If you can read Spanish or translate it, I recommend you follow the white rabbit. You should ALWAYS follow the white rabbit.

Al fallecer Joseph de Porres en 1703, su hijo Diego se encontraba trabajando con él en La Recolección, por lo que le correspondió terminarla. A sus 25 años, su prestigio debió ser considerable, pues ese mismo año, el Ayuntamiento lo nombró Arquitecto Mayor de la Ciudad.

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