Opulence Defined

I was determined to visit La Compañía today, since we didn’t have time for it yesterday. The guide book had described it as “one of the most beautiful and extravagant churches in the Americas.” We decided to go there early to ensure a visit. But first, an observation. When you walk in Quito, you are either going uphill or downhill. I don’t think there is a flat spot anywhere in the city. It is dotted by large hills throughout the metropolis, but the elevation changes don’t stop the traffic or the people. The streets just go up and down. The few blocks to the church required uphill and then down.

La Compañía was built by the Jesuits, beginning in 1605. If you had to define opulent, you could simply show a picture of this place; almost everything is covered in 23 carat gold leaf. It’s reported to have seven tons of gold. Compare that to the paltry 200 ounces of gold covering Colorado’s Capitol dome. It was shiny…everywhere. The church also housed several pieces of artwork, including paintings from the 16th century.

We followed La Compañía with a visit to Iglesia San Francisco and discovered that we should have gone to La Compañía last; all of our other stops paled in comparison. But we weren’t disappointed. The history of the San Francisco church was rich. It is the largest religious complex in South America and construction on the building started almost immediately after the founding of the city in 1534. Although they were conducting mass, we quietly made our way along the side of the pews to glimpse the architecture and artwork. As I stood at the back of the church, I realized that the floor steadily inclined on the way to the altar. You can’t escape the undulating landscape of Quito.

We attempted to visit the Museo Casa de Sucre, but somehow misunderstood the hours that it was open, twice. We gave up and walked over to the Casa de Alabado. The museum is housed in a restored 17th century mansion, which was interesting all by itself; however, the collection of pre-Colombian art was impressive. I’m a sucker for history, and the museum included pieces as old as 6000 years. Although, we made a wrong turn and ended up touring the collection out of order, it was interesting all the same. I particularly liked the area focusing on the spiritual and shamanic items. The oldest were carved out of stone, while the more recent (only 2000 years old) were ceramic. There were tiny amulets, as small as a bean, and stone carvings up to a foot or two. We strolled the museum for quite a while before heading out to dinner.

We are calling it an early night, as the taxi picks us up at 3:45 tomorrow morning. We have a 7am flight to the Galapagos, specifically Santa Cruz Island.Read more