i Dominican Republic - travelfilm.de

Eventually the project was completed.
However, the unfinished belfry, that
stands to this day, is a reminder of the
trials and tribulations of this house of
worship.
The cathedral combines late Gothic and
Renaissance elements, and even though
is predominant features belong to the
classical features predominate.
In l546, Pope Paul III elevated it to
the status of Catedral Metropolitana y
Primada de las Indias (First Metropolitan
Cathedral of the Indies), thereby
according it an ecclesiastically superior
rank over other churches in the New
World, and transforming it into the
hemisphere’s Christian heart.
Its floor plan has, in addition to the
main altar, fourteen chapels where urns
containing the ashes of many renowned
individuals are kept forever alive in the
collective memory.
Three doors lead into the interior: the
north door faces Columbus Park; the
one to the south faces Plazoleta de
los Curas (Small Plaza of the Priests),
also known as the Puerta del Perdón
(Portal of Clemency). For many political
dissidents, reaching the threshold
of this portal meant being in a safe
haven. Well before international treaties
recognized diplomatic immunities,
extradition agreements, or asylum or
refugee status, it was the perpetual
beacon of hope for the renegade. Given
the turmoil of our world today, we could
probably use many such portals of
clemency.
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The plateresque-style main door leads
to an atrium that, in the 19th century,
was converted into a market during the
Haitian military occupation.
The Columbus Mausoleum
Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid
on May 20, 1506. King Ferdinand
ordered that an epitaph be placed over
his grave with the inscription: “To Castilla
and León, Colon gave a New World.”
Columbus’ mortal remains were laid to
rest in Seville until Doña María de Toledo
brought them, together with those of
her own husband, Don Diego Colón, to
the place where they had asked to be
buried. The mortal remains were buried
in a crypt in the cathedral’s main altar.
In 1586, England’s notorious pirate,
Sir Francis Drake, plundered Santo
Domingo. Given the record of havoc and
destruction that had always been left in
the wake of his activities, the bishop of
the diocese ordered the obliteration of all
inscriptions to reduce the probability of
desecration by Drake and his henchmen.
When Spain ceded eastern Hispaniola to
France in 1795, in compliance with the
terms of the treaty of Basle, Cuba (which
was then still under Spanish rule) staked