Iglesia de la Recoleta, Catholic temple in Cusco, Peru.
The Iglesia de la Recoleta is a temple in Cusco with a notable stone exterior structure, complemented by a central tower rising above the main building. The church combines a large brick barrel vault with stone pilasters and shows the typical layout of a colonial Andean church.
Construction began in 1599, funded by Toribio de Bustamante and led by Fray Francisco de Velasco, and was completed in 1601. The 1650 earthquake damaged the church; on 3 February 1688 Nicolás Huallpa of Oropesa hired Juan Tomás Tuyro Túpac to cut 360 ashlars for rebuilding the tower. The 1950 earthquake caused little damage.
The church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Recoleta, and the adjoining convent carried the title of San Antonio de Padua. Its small cloister has brick arcades on stone columns, with the upper level where the friars lived. Around 1651 the convent housed about 16 friars.
The church stands on the Plazoleta de la Recoleta, within the buffer zone of Cusco's historic centre, a short walk from the Plaza de Armas. It is a working parish, so visits fit around Mass times rather than fixed tourist hours. The 1972 Monumental Zone designation and the 1983 UNESCO listing cover the building itself, not a visitor centre.
The tower rebuilt after the 1650 earthquake was not the work of a single craftsman: on 3 February 1688 the indigenous mason Nicolás Huallpa, a native of Oropesa, contracted Juan Tomás Tuyro Túpac to cut 360 ashlars for it. The 1950 earthquake, by contrast, caused little damage to the building.
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