San Francisco Church, Guayaquil, Colonial church building in downtown Guayaquil, Ecuador

San Francisco Church, also called Church of Our Lady of the Angels, stands at the corner of Avenida 9 de Octubre and Pedro Carbo, facing the Junta de Beneficencia building and beside the plaza with the Vicente Rocafuerte statue. The present structure, built in 1956 by engineer Modesto Luque Rivadeneira, follows the lines of the early 19th-century wooden church. Its interior holds fifteen Gothic-style altars, sculptures and artworks.

The Franciscan order founded a convent with a temple in 1600, built by Pedro de Acosta near the port of La Marina; it burned in 1683 and again after pirate attacks. In 1702 the order built a new convent and church in the Ciudad Nueva. The building was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1896, rebuilt from 30 July 1899 with donations from doña María Natividad and inaugurated in 1902. The present structure dates from 1956, by engineer Modesto Luque Rivadeneira.

The church is also called Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, and its interior was decorated with fifteen Gothic-style altars, sculptures and artworks after the 1899 rebuilding. Some niches in its walls still hold the remains of Franciscan religious and of political figures from old Guayaquil; most burials were moved to the general cemetery after 1896.

San Francisco Church stands at the corner of Avenida 9 de Octubre and Pedro Carbo, next to the Plaza de San Francisco with its statue of Vicente Rocafuerte and facing the Junta de Beneficencia de Guayaquil. Use those two landmarks to orient yourself in the downtown grid.

Before the 1896 fire, the church held the remains of notable Guayaquil figures; after rebuilding, burials moved to the general cemetery. Some niches remain, mostly of Franciscan religious, along with a few of old Guayaquil's political figures.