La Merced Church, Baroque Catholic church in Antigua, Guatemala

La Merced Church is a Catholic church in Antigua Guatemala built in the Guatemalan Churrigueresque style, with a yellow facade trimmed in white stone and two bell towers. The lower section holds a wide arched entrance with a dark wooden door, flanked by columns and niches with small white statues; above are two arched windows and a curved gable topped by statues. A tall stone cross on a stepped pedestal stands on the paved plaza in front.

The Mercedarians settled in the Almolonga Valley around 1537 and moved to the Panchoy Valley after the Volcán de Agua landslide. Architect Juan de Dios Estrada directed construction of the church from 1749, and it was dedicated in 1767. Captain General Alonso Fernández de Heredia donated four thousand pesos toward the building, which withstood the 1773 Santa Marta earthquakes thanks to new construction techniques.

The church is dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy, and its facade shows the Mercedarian shield with St. Peter Nolasco above and the Virgin of Mercy below. Stucco and brick figures of Mercedarian saints flank the entrance: Raymond Nonnatus and Pedro Armengol on the left, Peter Pascual and Mary de Cervellione on the right.

The church stands on a paved plaza in the centre of Antigua Guatemala, a short walk from the Parque Central. The tall stone cross on its stepped pedestal marks the entrance side of the facade. The Fountain of los Pescados, 27 metres across, lies in the former convent courtyard and can be visited together with the church.

The Fountain of los Pescados in the church courtyard measures 27 metres across, making it one of the largest colonial fountains in Latin America. Its basin is shaped like a water lily, a flower common in Guatemala's lowland lakes; in Maya symbolism a god made a water lily from which the other gods came. It was restored in 1944.