Leon Cathedral

Built between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Cathedral of León is an
extraordinary testimony of the fusion of the Hispanic cathedral scheme, with a
quadrangular plan, with regional artistic styles, adapted to the geographical,
climatic and telluric environment where it was located. built. The monument
exceptionally illustrates the transition from baroque to neoclassical with the
variants developed in this region of the New World where, for the period of
time that its construction lasted, it allowed the mixing in a single monument of
the art of ancient Guatemala, baroque and sensual, with that of New
Guatemala, neoclassical and academic.

Brief Historical Synopsis

The history of the Cathedral of León begins with the transfer made by the
inhabitants of the old settlement, today known as León Viejo, to the current
city, around 1610. As the writer Julio Valle Castillo mentions, the existence of
the current city of León no longer exists. was due to the conqueror, but to the
settler with a Leonese conscience and deep roots in property, who decided to
abandon the old seat, forced by geological and economic circumstances and the
belief that the place was cursed by the sacrilegious murder of Bishop Fray
Antonio de Valdivieso in 1550, preserving the city its civil and ecclesiastical
prerogatives, including continuing to be the headquarters of the Diocese of
Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

In the new seat, next to the indigenous town of Sutiaba, lots were distributed
for the Plaza Mayor, Cabildo, Governor's House and of course, for the Cathedral.
This provision fully complied with the urban planning provisions dictated by
Philip II, which regulated that in front of the square the temple should be built
as the main building and the other buildings intended for administration and
government should be erected close to it, with the market behind the temple. ,
an arrangement that can still be observed in the city. The first building of the
Cathedral was an improvised construction of wood and thatched roof, built by
order of Bishop Pedro de Villarreal. His successor, Fray Benito Rodríguez de
Baltodano, promoted the construction of a more formal building with royal
funds, whose works were completed in 1624.

However, on August 21, 1685, the city was attacked by a band of English pirates
under the command of William Dampier, who burned and destroyed this
Temple. After the disaster, the civil and ecclesiastical authorities decided to
carry out the construction of a new cathedral building, for which they
commissioned the works to a pirate who had been taken prisoner.
This building was not liked by the Leonese citizens of the first half of the 18th
century, since it presented some drawbacks due to its simplicity, narrowness
and darkness, which caused difficulty for the development of religious services.
For this reason, the idea of providing the city with a more dignified and capable
temple, appropriate to the importance of León, gained strength. According to
Bishop Pedro Agustín Morel of Santa Cruz, said demolition and construction
work began in 1747 by Bishop Isidro Marín Bullón y Figueroa, encouraged by the
irreversible decision of Leonese society to build the new work despite the scarce
funds available, since the project clearly exceeded the economic capabilities of
the province. Valle Castillo points out that the Cathedral is beginning to be built
despite the recommendations of the Crown, even lying to the Council of the
Indies about the true costs, so that they would not prevent the construction.

In 1774 Bishop Vilchez died and Lorenzo Tristán y Esmoneta was chosen as his
successor, who arrived in León loaded with great experience as a builder,
personally directing the work. Don Eduardo Pérez Valle points out that Bishop
Tristán's desire to finish his Cathedral was so great that “modifications were
made to the roof and it was decided to cut off the building in its last western
section. Thus the ten lanterns that were apparently supposed to crown as many
vaults of both tall naves disappear, being reduced to only four, two in the main
nave and another two in the transept. And the dome at its intersection, which
was to rise gracefully on an elegant dome, forming a graceful bell-shaped
ensemble, is supported by an economical plinth of reduced height, barely
pierced by four small windows," thanks to this, Bishop Tristán inaugurated the
Cathedral for the cult in 1780.

Between 1795 and 1799 the construction of the Parish of El Sagrario was carried
out. Originally it had been planned to locate it at the same level as the main
façade, but the bishop at that time, José Antonio de la Huerta y Caso from León,
decided that the Parish and its Sacristy would be located at the southeast end of
the building.
In the year 1810, Fray Nicolás García Jerez, of the Dominican Order and a native
of Murcia, Spain, took charge of the diocese, who built the towers and the
façade in neoclassical style, the official in the Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción .
These works were carried out by the factory master Mr. Hipólito Estrada de
Orellana and were completed around 1820.

Architecture

The architectural design was carried out by the Guatemalan architect Diego José
de Porres y Esquivel. The cathedral is distinguished by having a rectangular floor
plan, of a type widespread in those centuries and similar to those of the
cathedrals of Lima and Cuzco, Peru. Its two 40-meter-high towers and the
façade are neoclassical in style.
It has five naves, ten vaulted sections, two towers on its façade and a parish
church. The tabernacle is located almost parallel to the main altar, whose
projection breaks the rectangular symmetry. Its interior is spacious and with lots
of natural lighting, it has very thick cruciform columns and in some cases they
rise 30 meters, its central nave is staked above the side naves and is topped at
the transept by a large, highly decorated dome 35 meters high.
On the terrace there is the greatest baroque spectacle that is combined with the
neoclassical style.

The windows are vaulted and the two bell towers have a Chinese dome.
Due to the robustness of its walls it has withstood earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions of the Cerro Negro volcano and wars. In 1824, several cannons were
placed on its roof during the siege of the city by conservative forces and in the
insurrection of June and July 1979, against the dictator Anastasio Somoza
Debayle, the guerrillas of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) also
used it. for war purposes.

Illustrious people buried in the Cathedral

Bishops: Diego Alvaréz de Osorio, Francisco de Mendavia and Antonio de

Valdivieso, the first three bishops of Nicaragua, whose remains were transferred
from León Viejo on February 26, 2008. Juan Benito Garret y Arlovi, Domingo
Antonio Zattarain, José Antonio Flores de Ribero, Juan Carlos Vílchez y Cabrera,
Nicolás García y Jerez, Simeón Pereira y Castellón, Agustín Nicolás Tigerino y
Loáisiga and Cesár Bosco Vivas Robelo. Priests: José Desiderio de la Quadra,
Remigio Casco, Rafael Jerez (brother of the hero Máximo Jerez and the painter
Toribio Jerez), Félix Pereira y Castellón and Marcelino Areas.

The hero of independence Miguel Larreynaga (1700-1847), rather, his

descendant, whose ashes were brought from Guatemala in the seventies. The
poets: Rubén Darío (1867-1916), Salomón de la Selva (1893-1959) and Alfonso
Cortés (1893-1969). The musician José de la Cruz Mena, whose ashes were
transferred from the Guadalupe Cemetery on May 3, 1998.
Notable: Alfonso Ayón, Pedro Argüello, mayor of León. Leocadia del Prado
Argüello; the wise doctor Luis H. Debayle and his wife Casimira Sacasa;
Professor Edgardo Buitrago. A holy slave, according to Ernesto Cardenal's
collection of facts.

Historical and Artistic Values

Built at a key moment in the formation of Latin American identity, in general,

and Nicaraguan, in particular, it is a material expression of the efforts of this
new society to create works that were worthy of the American territories, even
against the material possibilities and the opinion of the Metropolis. It is not in
vain that the citizens of León promoted the construction of this monument
despite the scarcity of resources and the reluctance of the monarchical
authorities to finance the construction. One of the first independence
movements in Central America (1811) was announced from its bell towers, as
well as independence from Spain in the days after September 15, 1821.

The characteristic thickness of the walls and the accentuated horizontality were
not an obstacle for the monument's builders to produce a building of great
beauty without giving up the defining elements of the architectural styles with
which it was influenced: the play of circles and undulating lines. Inside, its roof is
adorned by semicircular vaults, lanterns and pinnacles with a great baroque
effect, along with its main façade that shows serenity and firmness, values
typical of neoclassicism.

The Cathedral has to its credit a series of invaluable examples of painting,

sculpture, metalwork and furniture from the colonial era and the 19th century
that are testimonies of the creative capacity and faith of talented craftsmen,
most of them anonymous and of Central American origin.

The sculpture stands out, represented by splendid carvings such as that of the
Blood of Christ, also known as “Christ of Pedrarias”, which tradition indicates to
have been brought by Pedrarias Dávila, it rests on a wooden cross covered with
silver sheets with baroque decoration. Added to this set are the sculptures of
the apostles attached to the pillars of the central nave and the Immaculate
Conception located on the front, works by the Granada sculptor Jorge Navas
Cordonero.
Another notable work is the Pinacoteca de la Sala Capitular, a collection of 50
portraits of the Bishops of the Diocese, made in the mid-19th century by the
Nicaraguan Toribio Jerez, which is considered the best Episcopal Pinacoteca in
the Central American isthmus of Cordoba.

The paintings of the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary located in the Sacristy
are also works of this author. The Cathedral is adorned by the 14 Stations of the
Via Crucis, painted by the Nicaraguan artist Antonio Sarria with the help of José
López at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

For its part, the goldsmith's work is mainly represented by the custody of the
main altar, in the Rococo style, and the magnificent silver frontal found in the
chapel of the Tabernacle, in the Baroque style, decorated with three medallions,
the central one with the image of the Virgin of the Assumption, owner of the
Cathedral, and on its sides with Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
Among the furniture, the Cordoban choir stands out, a set of baroque seats
currently placed behind the main altar, as well as the Ciprés or main altar itself,
made at the end of the 19th century, by the Leones cabinetmaker Francisco
Mateo Lacayo, at the base of which Later there is a polychrome tile mosaic,
dated 1770, whose design shows a double-headed eagle surrounded by the
flora and fauna of America in conjunction with episcopal and religious symbols.

Being a representative element of identity values linked to faith, the Cathedral

is the center and nucleus of the main religious celebration in Nicaragua: La
Gritería, related to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, which has
had a notable expansion to other countries. of the area. Also illustrious figures
in Central American history and culture have the cathedral as a place of eternal
rest, among them the hero of Central American independence Miguel
Larreynaga (1772-1847), poets such as the Prince of Castilian Letters Rubén
Darío ( 1867- 1916), and religious such as Bishop Mártir Fray Antonio de
Valdivieso (elected in 1543, murdered in 1550), among others.

The construction of the Cathedral created an architectural school in Nicaragua,

reproducing
producing its characteristics in other places in the country between the 18th
and 20th centuries. The experience in its construction radiated numerous
architects who participated in the construction of many of the main religious
and civil monuments in the country. Due to its historical and artistic values, the
World Heritage Committee, in its XXX-VI Session held in June 2011, considered
that this monument met two criteria to be included in the World Heritage List.

The Cathedral of León is an outstanding example of an exchange of human

values demonstrated by the different architectural influences of Spanish art that
merge in the monument, shaped by local labor and the geographical and social
environment. The Cathedral of León materially encapsulates the social, religious
and artistic syncretism of the new Latin American society that appeared during
the 18th century.

World Heritage

Due to its great artistic, cultural and historical value, on June 28, 2011, it was
elevated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) to the category of World Heritage Site, being the second in the
history of this country.
Bibliography

https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_Le%C3%B3n_(Nicaragua)

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g424970-d1903233-
Reviews-
Cathedral_Basilica_of_the_Assumption_of_the_Blessed_Virgin_Mary-
Leon_Leon_Departm.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le%C3%B3n_Cathedral,_Nicaragua