Convent of Santa Cruz de la Popa

From the fort, we got back in the minibus for the short drive up to the Convent of Santa Cruz de la Popa, located on a hill just outside Cartagena. 

The beautiful church and colonial convent of the Order of Augustinian Recollects were built between 1606 and 1611. The cloister of the convent of La Popa is one of the most beautiful in Cartagena and, indeed, in all of Colombia.

During colonial times, there was a clandestine shrine at the top of the mountain where the Indians and African slaves worshipped a deity called Buziriaco or Cabro Urí that looked like a goat.  Legend has it that Friar Alonso de la Cruz Paredes, a member of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, who was isolated in the desert of Ráquira (Boyacá), received in a dream the order of the Virgin Mary to build a monastery for her in the highest place of a coastal city.  So he travelled to Cartagena and, on the hill of Popa, carried out his mission.  On his arrival in the city, he snatched the goat Buziriaco and threw it down the hill.  After that the goat icon was replaced by that of the venerated image of the Virgin of Candelaria, a painting of colonial origin that represents the black virgin and who is today the patron saint of the city of Cartagena de Indias.

It is believed that the construction of the temple and convent of La Popa took much longer than expected due to the continuous sabotage of Buziriaco in the form of thunder, lightning, rain, and gales.

The convent of La Popa was not inhabited by the Augustinian Recollects from 1822 to 1963 as it was confiscated by the civil authorities. After 1963, the friars were able to recover their convent.  The image of the Virgin of Candelaria, Patroness of Cartagena, which is found in the golden altarpiece of the chapel, is highly venerated by the Catholic people of the city and surrounding areas.  Pope John Paul II canonised her on Sunday, July 6, 1986, during his Apostolic Visit to Cartagena.Read more