CAPILLA DE LA VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE

The chapel of the Virgin of Guadalupe is on the left, just beside the cathedral (access through the museum). Built in 1602 and enlarged in 1617, it is famous for housing the painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Also known as the Virgen Morena, this painting is the work of the Franciscan artist Diego de Ocaña. A one-centimeter thick silver and gold plate covering the mantle of the Virgin was added to the painting in 1784. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the most sumptuous religious work in the Americas. Standing out in relief from the painting, the Virgin's chasuble, lavishly decorated, was a gift from Charles V. Enriched over the centuries by the faithful who have added countless precious stones, it contains some 27,000 fine pearls, 19,000 diamonds, 8,000 rubies and a considerable number of emeralds, topazes, etc., with an estimated value of 40 million dollars. Every year on September 8, the feast day of the Virgin Mary, the silver-framed painting, protected by a glass dome, is carried in procession throughout the city.

The Cathedral Museum, the most important in the country, has a fine collection of paintings by renowned artists. There are works by Bitti (an Italian of the Spanish school), such as his Virgen de las Frutas; by Willem Key (Dutch), whose painting Piedad can be seen, and by Fourchault (Flemish), an Adoration of the Shepherds, both of whom belong to the Flemish school. Also on display is a Saint Francis of Paola by Perez Holguin (Bolivian), who belongs to the Charcas school. The museum also exhibits a collection of religious ornaments of the bishops and archbishops of Charcas, finely worked in silver wire; the museum also displays a collection of religious ornaments of the bishops and archbishops of Charcas, finely wrought in silver wire; and a number of pieces of local silverware, including the gold sacrament of Corpus Christi, with inlays of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, topazes, amethysts and pearls; gold chalices inlaid with precious stones, tabernacles, rings, and a lapis lazuli cross. All this, it seems, is tiny compared to the Virgin's treasure: two large chests filled with jewels offered by the faithful and whose value is still unknown. There is sometimes talk of selling this treasure to pay Bolivia's debts!

Note that the entrance ticket also gives access to the cathedral and the ecclesiastical museum.