Churches in Colombia

In the last weeks i've received new cards from Colombia. The 1st, was sent by Claus and it shows the Las Lajas Sanctuary and the 2nd, the San Francisco Church in Cali, was sent by Katelin "thebluemorpho".  

Photo by Omar Bechara

Las Lajas Sanctuary is a minor basilica church located in the southern Colombian Department of Nariño, municipality of Ipiales and built inside the canyon of the Guáitara River.

The present church was built in Gothic Revival style in 1949. The name Laja comes from the name of a type of flat sedimentary rock similar to shale.

The existence of a shrine in this location was recorded in the accounts of friar Juan de Santa Gertrudis's journey through the southern region of the New Kingdom of Granada between 1756 and 1764. The first shrine was built here in the middle of 18th century from straw and wood. It was replaced with a new, larger shrine in 1802, which in turn was extended and connected to the opposite side of canyon with a bridge.

Current church was built in the time period from January 1, 1916 to August 20, 1949, with donations from local churchgoers. It rises 100 m high from the bottom of canyon and is connected with 50 m tall bridge to the opposite side of the canyon. - in: wikipedia

 © Copyright by Humberto Castaño de Narvaéz

Cali, is a city in western Colombia and the capital of the Valle del Cauca Department. Cali is the third largest city in the country.

The San Francisco Church is a neoclassic temple built between 1803 and 1827. The church is part of the San Francisco Religious Complex, owned by the franciscan community in Cali.