Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, Gothic church in Andes, Colombia.
The Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes is a church building distinguished by Gothic features including pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and soaring windows. The structure stands in the mountain region and forms a visible landmark through its vertical lines and architectural style.
The parish was erected independently in 1870 with Eleazar Marulanda as first parish priest; the earlier wooden and rammed-earth church, a vice-parish of Concordia since 1853, was demolished in 1921. The first stone of the current building was blessed on 6 January 1922 and work began on 27 March 1922 to designs by Samuel Mejía Ochoa. Rafael Betancur launched the 1953 remodelling with designs by Albano Germanetti, and Augusto Aristizábal Ospina consecrated the temple on 6 May 1978.
The parish has been under the protection of Our Lady of Mercy since its founding, and the image venerated inside was brought from Spain by priest Efrén Montoya Arango. The church belongs to the Diocese of Jericó, in the Vicariate of Saint John the Baptist together with the churches of Hispania, Betania and Jardín.
The church faces the Parque Simón Bolívar, the town's central square in Andes, so it is reached on foot from the surrounding streets. The interior is 57 m long and 25 m wide, with the altar area, sacristy and crypt enlarged during the 1953 works. The dome rises 47 m above a 100 m² base, built between 1964 and 1974.
Local tradition holds that a large gold mine lies beneath the church. The present image of Our Lady of Mercy was brought from Spain by parish priest Efrén Montoya Arango, who served when construction finished in the early 1940s.
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