Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-08-22
RICH CATHEDRALS.
Even Poorest Latin American
Cities Have Great Edifices.
MOST OF THEM ARE HISTORIC

fore Great Silver Altar.
Going to. the length of the southern
! half of the western hemisphere
through the cities and villages Of the
cultured areas of what is vaguely
known in the United States as Cen
trail and South America, the one strik
ring thing met with everywhere is the
church, the cathedral No place seems
too poor or too small for it.
First of all to consider, not SO much
for its superiority us for its history, is
| the cathedral at Lima, Peru. 1t was
| founded the same day as the city by
! pizarro, the conqueror, destroyer and
| builder. III the place of what he de-
! stroyed Pizarro substituted one of the
| fascinating settlements of the world.
| 1t took him fifteen years TO pacify the
outraged people of Peru, but mean-
while he had laid out the city of Lima
| and dedicated the cornerstone of the
cathedral This was in 1885. In it he
| lies buried before a great silver altar.
| The interior of the cathedral is vast
and dim, and there are many side
! chapels and sacred pictures, some OF
which are by Peruvian artists. There
are groups of benches in the nave,
and. as Lima is a cosmopolitan city, 1t
| is no longer uncommon to see women
there wearing hats, although this Gus
| tom formerly gave OffenSe.
The Cathedral OF Lima is built Of
graystone of the same tone as the
surrounding landscape, the background
of which is of gray sand, from the
plain to the winters snow line The
building fills the whole of one side OF
| the Plaza de Armas, paved square
interspersed with flower beds, benches
and a music pavilion, this forming the
gathering place of Lima.
Lima is a city of churches, and the
cathedral is more than equaled by sew
eral others in beauty and interest II
not in age. The construction of the
city around this square, which was the
nucleus of the city's growth from the
earliest foundation, Is a characteristic
of the capitals of the southerly repub-
lies.
The cathedral at Caracas is built OF
stucco, as stone was not easily obtain
able in the neighborhood. That mate
rial was fortunately chosen, as 1t
seems to have been able to resist the
severe earthquakes which have from
time to time brought devastation to
the city.
The original city Of Panama was de
stroyed by Morgan in 1910, but the
newer and the present city, six miles
from the ruins of the old, has a cathe-
dral the foundation of which was laid
shortly after The building was COM
pleted in 1T6O. Its structural material
is stone, brought on the backs of In
dams many miles from the quarrtes In
the interior highlands.
Bogota and Quito, being in the noun
tains and away from the ocean high
ways of the colonial times, were deep
Nv affected by the ideas of ecclesiastt-
cal architecture introduced by the con-
ouerors. Both cities are even more
abundantly supplied with churches
than are Caracas and Panama. Diff
ferent forces were at work, however,
and the results were different. In Bo-
gotta the tall facade, the twin towers,
with the inclosed bells, all found to
some degree in the other cathedrals,
show the unchanged pattern OF the
day In Quito a less lofty style OF
building was erected, and there are
traceable elements of Moorish inf1u-
ences. Towers are absent, their places
being taken by domes. A contrast OF
similar nature is noticeable in the very
old cathedral at Sucre, the original
capital of Bolivia, and that of the
cathedral at AsunciOn, capital Of Para
guay. The CORNER has a fiat roof and
modest single story facade, while the
latter reproduces the twin towers, the
facade and the pointed pinnacle be-
tween them. The majority of churches
and cathedrals represent this second
feature of colonial architecture.
Cordova. in the Argentine Republic,
has unusual touches reminiscent Of the
Moorish style and is considered one Of
the most attractive cathedrals in South
| America. Many OF IHeIl, tO1SlTuCIcu
even at later date have retained the
principal characteristics of the original
designs brought over by the first set
tiers This is largely the case in the
interior dioceses of Spanish America.
Bahia, Maranao and Pernambuco
showed Il marked Dutch influence, for
Maurice of Nassau and the Dutch re
formed clergy ruled this coast about
| 1886 and the domestic as well as the
ecclesiastical architecture has elements
of north European structure details.
The most noteworthy church build
ing in Rio de .JaneirO is the Church
of Candelaria. The cornerstone was
laid about 1880 the foundation having
been given by piouS Brazilian in
gratitude for her rescue from a great
peril at sea. This building was plan
ned by a Brazilian engineer. EvariStC
da Vega The two towers, Surmount-
ed by glittering domeS, are among the
first objects to attract the eve on en-