#pomata

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Church of Santiago Apóstol, Pomata, Chucuito Province, Puno Region, Peru. Part 4: The dome (c. 1787).

One of the main features in the church of Santiago Apóstol is, undoubtedly, the dome over the crossing. As is customary in viceregal Peru, the dome rests directly over the cornice, lacking the drum that is so typical in Spain, México and other hispanic territories. Lavish planiforme motives decorate the surfaces of the dome, from the pendentives to the intrados and the windows. Each one of the four pendentives displays a jar sustained by a bust-like figure from which spring a large array of plants and flowers, all beautifully carved in the rose coloured stone of the church. The entablature over the pendentives displays a similar motive in the frieze, while the cornice is carved lavishly with leaf motives.

The intrados of the dome is divided into eight sections by large bands; four of them go all the way down from the lantern to the cornice, while the other four end over the arched windows that bring light into the otherwise dark church. These bands are also richly carved with planiforme motives of flowers, leaves and human heads carrying baskets on top. The deeply splayed windows are also richly carved with similar motives.

The most original features of the dome are the eight antropomorphic motives that fill the spaces between the bands. These seem to represent human figures formed with stems, leaves and flowers engaged in some sort of ritual dance with their hands held to one another. Some have argued that it represents a native dance, but their exact significance is open to speculation. Nevertheless, the beauty of the dome is something that is out of the question.

All photos by Juan Pablo El Sous (2017)

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Serie Portadas Puneñas. Portada planiforme de la sacristía (c. 1794), en la Iglesia de Santiago Apóstol del pueblo de Pomata, provincia de Chucuito, Región Puno. Foto de Juan Pablo El Sous (2017).

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Portada menor (c. 1780) de la Iglesia parroquial de Santiago Apóstol del pueblo de Pomata, provincia de Chucuito, Región Puno. Foto de Juan Pablo El Sous (2017)

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Una joya puneña. Retablo mayor (c. 1725) de la Iglesia de Santiago Apóstol del pueblo de Pomata, provincia de Chucuito, Región Puno. Foto de Juan Pablo El Sous (2017).

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Church of Santiago Apóstol, Pomata, Chucuito Province, Puno Region, Peru. Part 3: The main facade (c. 1794). 

Facing a narrow street leading to the town´s  square, the main facade of the church of Santiago at Pomata is more austere than the lavish lateral portal, but in no way less impressive. It was the last part of the church to be built and it consists of a portal within a projecting arch flanked by two huge tower bases. This particular arrangement, in which the portal is placed inside a deep projecting arch is rather common in Puno Region, and it is present in the churches at Lampa, Zepita, Vilque, Juliaca, among others. The portal is a large structure, three stories high - with a smaller fourth story- , with three bays framed by twelve columns, four on each story. These columns are different from those in the lateral portal, having a straight shaft carved in planiforme or mestizo style depicting a human figure holding vines entwined with flowers and leaves. The capitals seem to be highly stylized versions of the Corinthian order, consisting of two pairs of volutes in the first story and two rows of vertical leaves in the second and third stories. The entablatures, reduced to just a cornice, are also entirely carved with planiforme motives. The huge choir window, deeply splayed, occupies the second and third stories while shallow niches fill the rest of the spaces between the columns. The portal fits rather awkwardly within the projecting arch, with the outside columns of the third story not supporting its corresponding entablature.

Two huge tower bases flank the projecting arch that houses the portal. Of these, only the right base holds a belfry, while in the other an inscription states that it was built in 1794 (Quiroga año 1794). Over the base of the right tower two superimposed stories support the large belfry, composed of two arched openings on each of its four sides -an arrangement that resembles that of Cusco Cathedral - topped by a small dome over a cornice, surrounded by four pinnacles.

Images: 

General view of the main facade.

Main portal of the church.

Main portal of the church.

Inscription on the left tower.

Detail of the projecting arch.

Detail of the first story of the portal.

Detail of the first story of the portal.

Upper stories of the portal.

Portal and right tower.

View of the right tower.

All photos by Juan P. El Sous (2017).

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Church of Santiago Apóstol, Pomata, Chucuito Province, Puno Region, Peru (1760 - 1794). Part 1.

“The masterpiece of the mestizo style in South America is the church of Santiago at Pomata, a small village on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca. Built of rose-colored stone throughout, it is incomparable in its beauty of design and fine workmanship”. 

       Harold Wethey, art historian, 1949.

The amazing parish church of the small town of Pomata, dedicated to Saint James, is considered the most complete monument of planiforme or mestizo architecture in the area surrounding Titicaca Lake. Planiforme architecture developed during the eighteenth century in southern Peru and is characterized for the flat carved decoration -mostly in stone- that covers large surfaces in portals, cornices, domes, and other architectural elements. 

The church of Santiago Apóstol was one of the three parishes that existed in the town of Pomata in colonial times, the others being San Martín (totally destroyed) and San Miguel (in ruins). It was originally built by the Dominican Order in the sixteenth century but the church that exists today was built anew in the second half of the eighteenth century over the course of several years. The construction of the new building probably began around 1760, since an inscription in the triumphal arch of the atrium states that it was erected in 1763 (”Siendo cura el S. D. D. Gregorio Santiago de la Concha hi. es Arc. el N.P. Nazario N.S. Salvador Soto. Año 1763″). Several documents found in the archives of the city of La Paz (Bolivia), by art historians José de Mesa and Teresa Gisbert indicate that by 1768 just a small part of the church had been built and vaulted (probably the presbytery and the transept), and by 1787 most of the nave was being covered, except for the last two bays (over the choir). These, as well as the towers and the portals, were finished in 1794, a fact that can be proven from the inscription in the base of the left tower (Quiroga año 1794).  

The church of Santiago has a latin cross plan with a large presbytery, deep projecting transept, single nave with shallow arched chapels and raised choir over the entrance, flanked by two massive towers. Simple pilasters with no capital line up within the walls of the nave supporting a complete entablature with the cornice, bases, and spandrels all decorated with planiforme style patterns. A simple barrel vault covers the nave, transept and presbytery, over arches corresponding to the pilasters in the walls. In the crossing, a large dome over pendentives rises loftily, decorated with beautiful planiforme patterns displayed in the surface of the pendentives and in the radiating bands that converge in the central oculus.. Two small inner portals, lavishly carved in stone, give way to the sacristy from the presbitery and the transept. 

The church is located within a large enclosed atrium, with a triumphal arch serving as gate from the town´s main square. This arch leads to the lateral facade of the church, while a secondary access from a narrow street leads to the door that is opposite to the high altar, thus making the lateral door the principal access to the building from the main square. Both doors are adorned with beautiful planiforme portals, the lateral one being the most lavish of the two, two stories high with three bays and a large semicircular tympanum profusely carved in stone. The main portal, simpler in design and more austere in decoration than the lateral portal, is placed within a projecting arch flanked by the two large towers of the church. Only the right tower has a square belfry with two arched openings on each side, surmounted by a dome.

Photos:

General view of the church from the main square.

Main facade of the church.

Tower of the church.

Main portal of the church within a projecting arch.

Lateral portal of the church, in planiforme style.

Exterior of the church, with the portal that leads to the crossing.

Interior of the church facing the high altar.

Dome and pendentive over the crossing.

Detail of the windows in the presbytery and the main retablo.

All photos by Juan P. El Sous (2017)

Floor plan by Ramón Gutiérrez (1978)

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Pilastra del crucero de la iglesia de Santiago Apóstol de Pomata (c. 1760-1790), con el fuste adornado con pintura mural y el entablamento tallado años estilo planiforme. (en Iglesia Santiago Apóstol Pomata-Puno)