Quake Shocks Heritage, Sacred Walls Crumble
Today's Stories
- Earthquake damages 16th-century church in Peru — The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
Full Transcript
It is Monday, July twenty-seventh, two thousand twenty-six. Let’s dive in.
A 5.1-magnitude earthquake on 18 July severely damaged the colonial-era Iglesia Apóstol Santiago in Chongos Bajo, a town in Peru’s Junín region sitting 3,270m above sea level. The Art Newspaper reports that the roof and part of the façade of the 16th-century church collapsed, and the carved stone cross in the adjacent plaza—known as Our Lord of the Cani Cruz—fell and broke one of its arms. Built under the authority of Spanish viceroy Francisco de Toledo, the church is a cultural heritage site recognized by Peru’s ministry of culture and seats around 300 people. Parish priest Ricardo Ocharán has launched a fundraising campaign through the Archdiocese of Huancayo, estimating the roof replacement alone will cost more than four hundred thousand dollars.
That’s all for today’s edition of The Daily Art Download. Links to the full story are waiting in the show notes—come back tomorrow for more art world news you can actually use.