The corporation hall, sala consistorial, on the north-west side of the plasa, or square, offers nothing worthy of notice; it is a large room, containing benches for the members of the cavildo, a state chair and canopy for the president, some plans of the city hanging on the walls, and a closet for the archives.
FOOTNOTE:
[5] It is a curious circumstance, that the hall was exactly filled with portraits when the liberating forces entered Lima, there not being one spare pannel, nor room to place another painting, without removing some of the old ones.
CHAPTER XII.
Particular Description of Parish Churches. … Of Santo Domingo. … Altar of the Rosary, St. Rosa and other Altars. … Cloisters. … Sanctuary of Saint Rosa. … Church of San Francisco. … Chapels Del Milagro, De Dolores, De los Terceros. … Pantheon. … Cloisters. … San Diego. … San Agustin. … La Merced. … Profession of a Nun, or taking the Veil. … Hospitals of San Andres, of San Bartolome and others. … Colleges of Santo Toribio, San Carlos, Del Principe. … University. … Inquisition. … Taken to it in 1806. … Visit to it in 1812, after the Abolition. … Inquisitorial Punishments. … Foundling Hospital. … Lottery. … Mint. … Pantheon.
The parish churches of Lima have nothing to recommend them particularly to the notice of a stranger. St. Lazaro has an elegant façade, and presents a good appearance from the bridge; the interior is tastefully ornamented; the ceiling is of pannel work, and the several altars highly varnished and gilt. The living is said to produce about thirty thousand dollars annually, and is often called the little bishopric.
Of the conventual churches, only those belonging to the principal houses are remarkably rich. St. Dominic, Santo Domingo, about a hundred yards from the plasa mayor, is truly magnificent; the tower is the loftiest in the city, being sixty-one yards high, built chiefly of bajareque; the bells are good, especially the great one, which was cast in 1807: none of the large bells are rung as in England; having no swing wheels, the clappers are merely dragged backwards and forwards till they strike the sides of the bells. The roof of the church is supported by a double row of light pillars, painted and gilt; the ceiling is divided into pannels by gilt mouldings, and the large central pannels exhibit some good scriptural paintings in fresco. The high altar, as usual, is on an elevated presbytery: it is of modern architecture, of the Ionic order; the columns are varnished in imitation of marble, with gilt mouldings, cornices and capitals. At the foot of the presbytery, on the right, stands the beautifully rich chased and embossed silver cased altar of our Lady of the Rosary. This altar exceeds any other in Lima both in richness and effect; it is entirely covered with pure silver; its elegant fluted columns, highly finished embossed pedestals, capitals, cornices, &c., some of which are doubly gilt, are magnificently superb. In the centre of the altar is the niche of the Madonna, of exquisite workmanship; the interior contains a transparent painting of a temple, the light being admitted to it by a window at the back of the altar. The effigy is gorgeously dressed—the crown is a cluster of diamonds and other precious gems; and the drapery of the richest brocades, laces and embroidery; the rosary is a string of large pearls of the finest orient. Such is the abundance, or rather profusion, of drapery, that the same dress is never continued two days together, throughout the year. Before the niche fifteen large wax tapers are continually burning in silver sockets; and in a semicircle before the altar are suspended, by massy silver chains, curiously wrought, fourteen large heavy silver lamps, kept constantly lighted with olive oil. Besides these are, similarly suspended, eight fancifully wrought silver bird cages, whose inmates, in thrilling notes, join the pealing tones of the organ and the sacred chaunt of divine worship. Four splendid silver chandeliers hang opposite the altar, each containing fifteen wax tapers; below are ranged six heavy silver candelabra, six feet high, and six tables cased in silver, each supporting a large silver branch with seven tapers; also four urns of the same precious metal, filled with perfumed spirits, which are always burning on festivals, and emit scents from the most costly drugs and spices; the whole being surrounded by fuming pastillas, held by silver cherubim. On those days when the festivals of the Virgin Mary are celebrated, and particularly at the feast of the rosary and octavo, the sumptuous appearance of this altar exceeds all description: at that time, during nine days, more than a thousand tapers blaze, and the chaunting and music of the choir are uninterrupted.
At the celebration of these feasts many miracles are pretended to be wrought by this Madonna; and many absurd legends are related from the pulpit, tending more to inculcate superstition than religion—more to increase pious frauds, than to enforce sound morality. It was for speaking thus irreverently of these ceremonies, to one of the double-hooded brethren, that I was brought before the holy inquisition, of which I shall say more when I conduct my readers to that now-deserted mansion. On the left of the high altar stands one dedicated to Saint Rose; it is richly ornamented, and has a large urn, containing an effigy of the saint, in a reclining posture, of white marble, and good sculpture. On each side of the church are six altars, coloured and varnished in imitation of different marbles, lapis lazuli, &c. with gilt mouldings, cornices, and other embellishments. The choir is over the entrance at the principal porch; it is capacious, and has two good organs. The music belonging to this church is all painted on vellum by a lay brother of the order, and some of the books are ably done.
Three of the cloisters are very good; the principal one is elegant; it has two ranges of cells, and the pillars and arches are of stone, of fine workmanship. The lower part of the walls is covered with Dutch tiles, exhibiting sketches from the life of St. Dominick, &c. Above are large indifferently executed paintings of the life and miracles of the tutelary saints: they are generally concealed by panelled shutters, which are opened on holidays and festivals. At the angles of this cloister are small altars, with busts and effigies, most of them in bad style. The lower cloisters are paved with freestone flags—the upper ones with bricks. Some of the cells are richly furnished, and display more delicate attention to luxury than rigid observance of monastic austerity. The library contains a great number of books on theology and morality. On the wall of the stairs leading from the cloister to the choir is a fine painting of Christ in the sepulchre.
The rents of this convent amount to about eighty thousand dollars annually, and the number of friars belonging to the order is one hundred and forty. The provincial prelates are elected by the chapter every year, being a Spaniard and a Creole alternately, and the contests run so high, that a military force has sometimes been found necessary to prevent bloodshed.
Belonging to this order is the sanctuary of Saint Rose, she having been a beata, a devotee of the order, wearing the Dominican habit. In the small chapel are several relics or remains of the saint, as bones, hair, &c., but more particularly a pair of dice, with which, it is pretended, when Rose was exhausted by prayers and penance, Christ often entertained her with a game. Shame having become paramount to deceit, the pious brethren have lately been loath to expose these dice, which, however, were shewn to me in 1805, and I kissed them with as much pious devotion as I would have done any other pair.
The church, chapels and convents of San Francisco, belonging to the casa grande, about 200 yards from the great square, plasa mayor, are the largest and most elegant in Lima. The church does not possess the riches of St. Dominick's, but its appearance is more solemn; the porch is filled with statues and other ornaments, and the two steeples are lofty and somewhat elegant. The roof is supported by two rows of stone pillars, and is of panel work of the Gothic order: some of the altars are curiously carved and gilt, and the pillars, moulding, &c. of the sacrariums are cased with silver: the service of plate is rich, and the robes of the priests are splendid. Like the cathedral, this church has a complete set of
