Museo de la Catedral

Description:

• The Museo de la Catedral houses an excellent collection of colonial art and silver religious relics, but the Chapel of the Virgin of Guadalupe is the star of the show here (and will probably be the highlight of your visit to Sucre). Fray Diego de Ocaña painted the original Virgen de Guadalupe in 1601. Today, you can see some remains of this oil painting and the canvas, but mostly it has been destroyed by the thousands of pounds of jewelry that the faithful have offered the Virgin over the past 400 years. The weight of the jewels (and 40,000 emeralds can certainly do a lot of damage) have torn the canvas to bits. All that survive are her face, her hands, and the face of the baby -- the rest is pure gemstones. In addition to the Chapel of the Virgin, you can also visit the cathedral, which dates from 1559 but is purely neoclassical. After the independence from Spain in 1825, the liberators tried to erase all colonial influences from the churches in the area. Instead of seeing the elaborate baroque designs from the colonial period, you'll find that this cathedral is very simple and understated.

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010