San Ignacio Church, located in the Bogotá historic district of La Candelaria, was begun in the early seventeenth century under the supervision of Juan Bautista Coluccini, a Jesuit priest who oversaw the construction of the church from 1610 until his death in 1641. (...)
San Ignacio Church, located in the Bogotá historic district of La Candelaria, was begun in the early seventeenth century under the supervision of Juan Bautista Coluccini, a Jesuit priest who oversaw the construction of the church from 1610 until his death in 1641. Built in the Italian Renaissance and Baroque styles, construction of the church also incorporated elements from the Mudejar tradition. The church is believed to be modeled after the fifteenth-century Sant’Andrea Basilica by Leon Battista Alberti in Mantua, Italy. San Ignacio has a monumental arched entrance framed by large-scale pilasters and topped with a broken pediment. The interior of the church has a barrel-vaulted ceiling with painted and gilded decoration. Spanish artist Pedro de Laboria created the Baroque altar and many of the sanctuary’s sculptural reliefs.
The exterior and interior of the church have been damaged by a failing roof. The destabilized roof structure has caused deterioration of the stucco walls and of the highly decorated ceiling of the sanctuary.
