Monday, 16 July (Part III)
After lunch in Quito’s Centro Histórico (post here), we walked across Plaza Grande to La Catedral. Built and dedicated in the 16th century, much of what is seen today dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Unlike cathedrals in other cities, this one seems to stand in the shadow of the basilica and some of the other colonial-era churches that abound in this part of the city. In fact, when we asked the locals for help in finding the visitors’ entrance, they invariably directed us to the basilica.
Google Map image showing La Catedral (camera marker) in relation to Mea Culpa, where
we had lunch and some of the other sights of interest we visited earlier in our trip.
There’s no good angle to get a photo of the dazzling white walls and green tile domes
of La Catedral without a wide lens Or a higher vantage point …
… which the photographer of this postcard obviously found.
[scanned from postcard]
The main entrance that opens onto the nave was locked up, as was the 
door that looks onto Avenida Garcia Moreno. We were about to give up and go elsewhere when one of the locals told us that the museum entrance on Avenida Venezuela would gain us access to the cathedral.
Paying the $1.50/person entrance fee, we decided to first browse the exhibits located in a series of rooms rimming a courtyard. The displays included religious paintings and sculptures, as well as vestments and other clothing. Most were in glass cases, making photography near impossible even if taking pictures had been allowed. (I took the photographs of the oil painting, entitled “El Descendimiento” (the Descent), and the sculpture, entitled “La Piedad” (Piety), before I noticed the prohibition. Both are from the 18th century.)
There were no clear signs pointing us to the entry into the cathedral. No one was around to ask either, so we decided to be nosy and headed upstairs to the balcony overlooking the courtyard. Don’t ask me which door finally led us inside. At first I thought we might be trespassing, but we saw others exploring the interior of the cathedral, so we pushed on … but not before taking a photo of quirky mural that put a smile on our lips.
El Gallito de la Cathedral (the Cock of the Cathedral) tells the story of Don Ramón,
who would get drunk every night and walk around town, eventually ending up at
the cathedral. The church's rooster was insulted, because Don Ramón considered
himself "the great rooster." But one night ...
Photography was not allowed inside the cathedral, so I’m going to rely on postcards I purchased and scanned for this virtual tour. The guidebook stated there were tours conducted in both English and Spanish, but not on this day; a shame really as we would have gotten a lot more out of our visit with a bit more information about what we were seeing.
The stone marker on the left side translates as “Quito’s Glory; the discovery of
the Amazon River.” It is a reference to the Francisco de Orellana expedition that
completed the first known navigation of the entire length of the river in 1541.
[scanned from postcard]
Our circuitous route to find the entry into the cathedral led us to this 16th century library.
[scanned from postcard]
Just off the library, we found ourselves in this long room, the walls of which were
filled with paintings of church leaders; couldn’t resist sneaking a photo here.
Looking down the central nave to the main altar.
[scanned from postcard]
The Main Altar; Escuela Quiteña (Quito school of art) —19th century.
[on the left, another photo I took; on the right, scanned from postcard]
Altarpiece in St Peter's Chapel; 17th century.
[scanned from postcard]
Mausoleum of Mariscal Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan-born hero of Ecuadorian
and Latin American independence. He was buried at La Cathedral at his request:
“I want my bones to forever be in Quito.” (His wife was from Ecuador.)
[scanned from postcard]
It was nearing 3:00p when we left the cathedral. After a quick detour to the Church of San Francisco to see if I could find postcards of the interior — there were none — we grabbed a taxi to the last stop of the day, which we hoped would take us to soaring heights …
