A Bit More of the Church

This view of the organ loft really shows that almost no surface in this place is left unadorned.

And nowhere is this excess in ornamentation more obvious than the altar area of the church.

This side door I found interesting since the wooden panels in it seem to have a much older, more primitive painting in them. Surrounding the door is a section of old plaster with a quite nice design painted in it. I found this type of historical remnant to be quite evocative of the many feet and hand that have trod this floor and pushed this door open over the centuries.

There is a square in front of the church which even on a "soft" day was filled with people and lots of pigeons. By European standards the outside of the church is fairly ordinary, but it must have been quite a thing in its day. The manager of the hotel we stayed in the first night told us that most of the churches are built on the sites of temples built by the Quitu people. These are the people who lived here before the Incas came and conquered them and made this the northern capital of their empire. Then, of course, the Spaniards came along took it all and, in return, gave us exquisite churches to view.