Cathedral Basilica Of St. Mary (Trujillo, Peru)
History
History At first it was founded as a mother church, after the foundation of Trujillo (1535-1540), with modest architecture. In 1616, the church was elevated to the category of Cathedral by Pope Paul V; but unfortunately it was destroyed by the devastating earthquake of February 14, 1619, along with the city. The reconstruction was entrusted to Bartolomé de las Cuevas, and he also did not survive the earthquake of February 29, 1635. Consequently, as the episcopate needed a third, more consistent building, a large part of the work was built by the architect Francisco de Soto Ríos, from 1647, and then completed by Francisco Balboa in 1666.
Its interior is quite sober. It presents Rococo altarpieces painted white with gold and a Baroque one with the same colors; the canvases that he conserves belong to the Cusco school of painting. The "exempt" main altarpiece stands out, that is to say that it is not leaning on any wall. It is in the Churrigueresque baroque style and is covered in gold leaf. Only two of this type of altarpiece remain in Peru: the one in the Trujillo Cathedral and the one in the Cusco Cathedral.
The cathedral has beautiful paintings on its vault and in the dome; for this reason it is known as the Sistine Chapel or the Vatican of the Coast, in a similar way to how the Church of San Pedro de Andahuaylillas (Cusco) is known as the Sistine Chapel or the Vatican of the Andes.
It has the Cathedral Museum with religious works from the colonial era in gold and silver.
Baroque music
The most notable maestro de capilla of Trujillo cathedral, from 1721 to 1728, was the composer Roque Ceruti, later maestro at Lima Cathedral.
Spanish painter Leonardo Jaramillo created the work Cristo de la columna (1643) which is located at this cathedral.
References
- ^ Bertil Van Boer Historical Dictionary of Music of the Classical Period 2012 - Page 124 "By 1717 he was maestro di capilla at the Trujillo cathedral, and a decade later he obtained the same post at the Lima cathedral. He held this until his retirement in 1758 due to ill health. Much of his music conforms to the Italian Baroque style of"
- ^ Leslie Bethell The Cambridge History of Latin America 1984 -- Page 791 "From about 1721 to 1728 Ceruti directed music at Trujillo cathedral - returning to take the post of maestro de capilla at Lima on 1 August 1728. Ceruti's large extant repertory at the Archivo Arzobispal in Lima, La Plata cathedral, the Seminario .."
- ^ "Leonardo Jaramillo". Diccionario Biográfico electrónico (DB~e), Real Academia de la Historia (RAH). Retrieved 2022-08-27.