Ermita de Cali, Gothic church building in central Cali, Colombia

Ermita de Cali is a neo-Gothic church on the south bank of the Cali River, beside the Parque de los Poetas and near the Ortiz bridge. Its pale grey stone facade rises into a slender central tower with a perforated spire, a rose window above a gabled entrance, and twin narrower spires. Inside, three naves are covered by ribbed vaults, with white marble altars and stained-glass windows of the twelve apostles.

A church existed here by 1602, probably built around 1590, and was moved to a safer site in 1678 after Cali River floods. In 1741 Bishop González de Mendoza ordered a retaining wall to divert the river, funded by a 600-peso bequest from Sanjurjo Montenegro and finished in 1751. The 1925 earthquake destroyed that church; engineer Pablo Emilio Páez designed the present one for Alfredo Vásquez Cobón, completed in the early 1940s.

The church is dedicated to Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, and the old image of the Señor de la Caña, rescued from the 1925 earthquake, stands on the left side altar. The stained glass windows showing the twelve apostles came from Amsterdam, while the bells were cast in Levallois, near Paris. The iron doors were made in Cali in 1937 by students of the municipal school of arts and crafts.

The church stands on the south bank of the Cali River at the northeastern edge of the Parque de los Poetas, next to the Ortiz bridge. The bell tower, clock and pinnacles are under restoration, so parts of the exterior may be covered; the iron doors made in Cali in 1937 open onto the three naves. Look for the white marble altars and the 18th-century marble altar brought from Italy.

The 1925 earthquake felled the church, yet the image of the Lord of the Cane was saved and now stands on the left side altar. The main altar and this side altar are both carved from white marble, and the bells were cast in Levallois, near Paris.