The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe dominates Puerto Vallarta's skyline, serving as the city's most recognizable landmark. Year after year, it welcomes thousands of Catholics, particularly during an involved twelve-day festival known as the Feast of Guadalupe every December. During the peregrinaciones, or pilgrimages, thousands of faithful walk to the church to pay tribute to the Virgin as the bells joyfully welcome them.
The church combines several architectural styles—the main building is neoclassic, while the crown is reminiscent of baroque Austrian temples. The lateral towers, completed late, have an elegant, Renaissance feel. Early foundations along with the placement of the column groupings indicate that the original design intended to pay tribute to the original Basilica de Guadalupe, located in Mexico City's Zocalo. The church is also properly oriented, with the main altar on the sunrise side. Within the church, in a chapel known as the Capilla de los Desamparados (Chapel for the Forsaken), lie the remains of Padre Francisco Ayala and Padre Rafael Parra, who initiated and concluded the construction of the church, respectively. This chapel also contains the only surviving lateral altar of the four originally used in the church.
There is always activity in and around the church, where tour guides respectfully share their knowledge and traditions. The church bells are rung by the sextants 30 and 15 minutes prior to each service.
History
In 1903 there was already a small chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe on the present site of the church. From 1915, when Padre Francisco Ayala arrived in Puerto Vallarta, to the early 1920s, with the blessing of "La Eucaristía," the main church bell, improvements continued. Construction was halted abruptly in 1926 when Mexico's struggle between church and state escalated into the Cristero War, and was resumed with the beginning of the dome in 1930. A Hammond organ installed on December 12, 1951, a special day in Mexico's history since 1531, when the Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have appeared before Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. The main tower was finished in 1952.
The original church crown was installed in 1963. It was made of concrete, a replica of a crown worn by Carlota, mistress of the Emperor Maximilian in the 1860s. Finally, the façade and lateral towers were completed in 1987, resulting, for the most part, in the church as we know it today.
On October 9, 1995, the crown was completely destroyed by a 7.5 Richter-scale earthquake. At the time, members of the public and private sectors recognized its importance and agreed to commission a temporary replacement made of fiberglass. The material used to build it was not strong enough to withstand its own weight, so the crown's sections have deformed, altering its original profile and volume. The Patronato de Amigos Vallartenses, a non-profit organization composed of Puerto Vallarta citizens and businessmen, was created during the restoration effort after the earthquake to look after the conservation and restoration of the church as well as many other important monuments around Puerto Vallarta.
