Quote: Few buildings define Sucre’s centre better than the San Francisco Basilica. Not being neither on the central plaza nor the only colonial church in town, that is a somewhat strange statement. However, the structure includes a wonderful bridge of arches over the adjacent street, which gives the place – and the whole town - its special look. For once the colonial architects got it right and instead of constructing more of the same decided to give a special character to the town.

Sometimes the need of so many churches in those tiny colonial settlements looks unclear to the uninitiated. A cathedral is always by the central plaza, a basilica is a few blocks away and many churches are between and around them. Understanding the local reality is essential for the removal of the redundancy feeling. The cathedral was the main temple in town and administered the activities of all the other churches. The small churches scattered around provided services to the different neighbourhoods and congregations. The basilica began its way as a Franciscan Missionary centre aimed to convert the natives; task in which it was exceedingly successful from the beginning.

The basilica’s construction began in 1581, on the site of an earlier Franciscan missionary school, and ended in 1618. Its location is fabulous, near the central plaza but not on it; it spans the Arce Avenue with a beautiful series of white arches, which in the past connected the church with the now inexistent monastery. Sucre’s Central Market – see the dedicated entry - is next to it and in the 16th century was actually part of the church. The structure includes nowadays one central nave and two chapels on its sides, and on the Arce Avenue’s side there are fourteen crosses - in remembrance of the Via Crucis - where a second nave was in the far past. On the wall next to the main door there are printed tiles with exhaustive details of the place history.

The temple has a notable roof made of mud on its outer side and a magnificent Mudejar craftsmanship on cedar wood in the interior. The main altar was goldened with fire, in a technique peculiar to the Spaniards of those days; nearby there are four side altars that have been reconstructed – the originals are lost. Carved and goldened seats have been given to other churches; apparently only three chairs of the original collection are still in place. Strangely enough, under the main structure there is a crypt where some Spaniard conquerors are buried. There are two very solid and square bell towers, which Bolivians revere as being those the bells that announced Bolivia’s independence declaration.

From journals Sucre: Dream Capital