Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo, Puno (c. 1750 - 1790)
The villa of San Carlos de Puno was founded in 1668 to be a provincial capital and seat of a corregimiento, replacing the old town of Paucarcolla. The matriz or parish church, dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo, was probably built around this time, but it was totally replaced by a new building in the mid eighteenth century. The construction must have begun around 1750, with the economic aid of the rich miner Miguel Jacinto de San Román Zeballos and it probably reused part of the existing structure. The lateral portal has a date inscribed, 1754, and in the main portal facing the plaza an inscription states that it was finished in 1757. Despite this facts, the walls of the church were not finished until 1778 and the stone vaults until approximately 1794.The church became a Cathedral when the bishopric of Puno was created in 1867.
The church has a latin cross plan, with a single nave, long transept and deep presbytery covered with barrel vaults, and a large dome over pendentives in the crossing, all built entirely in brown stone. The interior is extremely austere, with very little decoration. The furnishing belongs entirely to the nineteenth and twentieth century due to a fire that took place in 1935.
The main facade consists of a large portal flanked by a tower on each side. The portal, two stories high with three sections in the first story and one in the second, is an excellent example of planiforme architecture, and stylistically related to arequipeño architecture. The term planiforme refers to the flat-like carving of the stone that covers almost every surface of the portal. Also, the columns that constitute the structure of the portal are not strictly salomonic: instead of the spirals characteristic of these, a flat band carved with a vine pattern seems to be entwined in the shaft of the column, a common feature in contemporary portals in the lake area. The ornamental repertory includes the placing of sirens - legendary creatures half woman - half fish - playing the charango (small Andean guitar) between the columns in the first story of the portal. In the spandrels of the arch that constitutes the door to the church an inscription states that the portal was finished in 1757, and that it was built by Simón de Asto, an indian mason.
Two smaller portals complete the exterior decoration of the church, one on each side of the nave. Both are very similar in design, only one story high with a very large tympanum on top, all carved in planiforme style. One particular feature is the presence of salomonic pilasters inside the jambs of the door.
The towers are two stories high, with a base almost completely void of ornamental details and a belfry consisting of one arched opening on each side flanked by Corinthian columns placed over huge carved brackets. A small dome surrounded by pinnacles tops off the belfry.
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