Iglesia de San Ignacio

The religious complex to which the Iglesia de San Ignacio (or church of St Ignatius) originally belonged was another victim of Mendizábal’s Disentailment in the 19th century, when a large part of the religious properties was confiscated and sold. The complex, which included a seminary of the Society of Jesus, was demolished, and only the church was saved, which continued as a cemetery chapel until 1917. The original college of San Ignacio was financed by the former bishop of Cuzco, Antonio Raya y Navarrete, from Baeza, at the beginning of the 17th century. The façade is particularly striking, consisting of two sections, the lower one with a semicircular arch with representations in relief of the Fortress and Hope plus the coat of arms of Bishop Raya. An imposing relief between columns stands out, representing the ecstasy of St Ignatius, kneeling before the Holy Trinity and with many angels and cherubs around him. The church has a Latin cross floor plan covered by a barrel vault. Nothing remains of the convent that completed this complex, but according to the documentation of the time, the building was designed around a spectacular courtyard with over eighty doors leading out of it and a large fountain in the middle. The building was dismantled after the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767.