Catedral de Arequipa y Museo....and a market party.

On Saturday we visited the Arequipa Cathedral and museum. We had previously tried visiting the Cathedral as entrance to the church is free, but they do have a dress code, so we made sure to wear appropriate clothing this time ;) The security guards will not allow entrance if you are wearing shorts, tanks tops, or hats. The museum is at an extra cost of 10 Soles per adult and 5 soles per kid, plus extra for the guide (a guide is mandatory in this museum).

View from Plaza de Armas of the Cathedral of Arequipa

La Catedral de Arequipa- The tented area is a big nativity display that also plays music all day long. 

Although a very elaborate church, the architecture was very different from the previous churches we had visited in Cusco. So much of Arequipa is Neoclassical, with lighter colors, and of course the usual white touches from the volcanic rocks near by. The cathedral features a beautiful organ from Belgium, which has over 1200 pipes.The guide told us that Saturday afternoons at 5 pm you can come and listen to the organist practice, she said that it was very hard to maintain an organ like this as most organs are manufactured in Europe, also there are very few organists in Arequipa....actually she said there was only one!

The organ from the Cathedral sits at the back of the church. In 2001 the organ was damaged due to an earthquake. One of the cathedral towers fell right by the organ. 

Almost every catholic church we have visited here in Peru have structures like this one (see below), but we were unsure what they were for. I thought it was a type of baptismal font area, but it is in fact a pulpit. Our guide explained that before voice amplifiers the priest needed to be in the middle and high above the audience so everyone could hear the sermon.

Pulpit

One of few churches that also feature sculptures of Satan

Satan sits underneath the apostles, and the priest, getting almost crushed,  signifying the power of the word of Christ over Satan.

A View to the back of the church

View of the front altar. You could smell those lilies from far! 

Our Guide explained that in Peru you are likely to see a darker Christs in most churches. This served a purpose as people were better able to identify themselves with this type of Christ as opposed to the blond, blue eyed Christ shown in most churches.

The museum featured really beautiful head pieces worn by different Catholic bishops, and some really amazing altar pieces. The kids were impressed that one of the them had over 1000 diamonds (or so the guide said). Some of the clothing that these priests had to wear for special holidays weighted as much as 40 Kg, man those guys must have been in good shape! Unfortunately the part of the museum with all the cool jewelry did not allow pictures. The greedy girl in me asked the guide what the approximate monetary value of these pieces was, but she just kept answering "Priceless"....what is this, a Mastercard commercial?

A view from the top of the church with El Misti in the back

This is the tower that fell in 2001. The earthquake was an 8.4 M, the tower has since been restored, and reinforced.

Church bells

A view of the Plaza from the top of the Cathedral

Maija and Terran really wanted to ring these bells, but they are actually very heavy, and not to be rung by just anyone. 

After the museum we just stuck around the Plaza to see where we should head to next. We visited the cloisters of La compania de Jesus again, and then we heard some loud music coming from the street so we went to investigate. Well in good peruvian fashion someone was having a party, and parade. The local Market (Mercado San Camilo) was celebrating it's 138th anniversary, so why not close the market, and have a big party, and parade, right?!?!

Dancers representing the fruit section of the market

San Camilo even has it's own princess. I love it that Peruvians find just about any reason to celebrate!

Each section of the market had it's own float, and was throwing candy, and other products to the onlookers. Everything was going well I thought until they started throwing mangoes, apples, and even pan pipes, lol.

After the Market craziness we went back to the Cathedral to listen to the organ, but before getting back we stopped at the Bliblioteca Mario Vargas Llosa. This was a library dedicated the famous peruvian writer by the same name. Mario Vargas Llosa is a famous writer, journalist, politician, and nobel prize winner. In 2001 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat".....not sure what that means, he must be a pretty smart guy, and I might try one of his books one of these days.

Inside the library courtyard...Maija and I had library envy, imagine living in a place like this.

Maija and Terran in the courtyard steps

And just so you don't think tt all we do is look at churches, and famous libraries....here is a bit of our shenanigans...I think this hair style really suits Wyatt....although he has decided to currently go for blue hair.... Bye for now friends!