There they are, among motley rchitectural clusters, rising arrogant, crowning the perspective of any street… This is, perhaps, the Cuban city of churches, not just for the number of this kind of constructions (all of them in very good conservation state), but for their visual impact in the whole, for its extraordinary cultural backgrounds.

Actually, Camaguey, former village of Santa Maria del Puerto del Principe greatly owes its peculiar urban print (a problem for the disoriented tourist) to an outline marked by the religious organization, as expresses Oscar D. Prieto Herrera, director of the Center of Studies of Conservation of Historical Centers.

The essence of that order, as Prieto explains, lies "in an urban structure formed by nuclei, where the church determines the center.

 

Starting from it is generated an entire area to which certain congregation attends, taking for granted the appearance of neighborhoods that take the name of the church, persistent nomenclature. (*)

We have traveled the main churches of Camaguey, seeking here and there, marks of identity, architectural details, singular stories…

Right in the middle of Republica Street, one of the most important commercial cores in the city, the tourist discovers the imposing building of the Church Nuestra Señora de la Soledad.

The photographer finds hard to get a full image of the construction, because the surrounding streets are very narrow and complicate the perspective. The steeple raises several levels and it’s visible from several points of the city.

Long time ago, the facade showed the bricks of the construction, what granted the atmosphere a certain romantic air. Now it’s visible the result of a capital restoration.

La Soledad is a three-building church, with a lateral stepped tower. There is certain Baroque influence, moderated by a provincial simplicity that manifests in the inclusion of vernacular features.

Inside the church, aside the impressive altar and other religious images, it hits you in the eye the beautiful roof of beautiful wood. The buildings can be entered from the front of the construction through Republica Street, or from a lateral entrance with doors to one of the many squares of Camaguey.

A plaque in the facade tells that in that parish was baptized Ignacio Agramonte, eponym hero of the city, on January 6, 1842.

He also got married there with Amalia Simoni, on August 1, 1868 a few months before the break of the war for independence where Agramonte would reach the grades of Mayor General.  

A few blocks away from La Soledad Church is found Nuestra Señora de la Merced crowning the Workers Square, considered by many the heart of the city.

It’s one of the biggest buildings of its kind and somehow it influences the urban everyday lives. Their strokes mark the hours on the dot and even the quarters of the hour; it’s the destiny of important processions; which becomes irreplaceable location point for the visitor…

Like La Soledad, it has three buildings, but the tower in it is located to the center. Stepping in the building, the visitor is dazzled by the beauty of the altar, marked Gothic features. But looking up above, he soon will have its attention caught by the vault decoration that shows a careful and respectful restoration. It’s also very beautiful the ledge of the choir and the dome that crowns it.

From one of the lateral doors, the typical Camaguey patio of the adjacent convent can be appreciated. One of the main attractions of the church are the catacombs located under the altar, very visited for researchers and tourists.

More classic features holds the Metropolitan Cathedral, former Mayor Parochial Church located next to Ignacio Agramonte Park.

The figure of a Christ crowns the steeple, visible from several points of the village.

An interesting architectural landscape hits the eye in the Church and Hospital of San Juan de Dios, in the square of equal name. Here, as Oscar D. Prieto points out is remarkable a consistent group where the expression of the temples facade is harmonically reflected with the formal components on the facades of the surrounding houses.

The coloring of the constructions (that recreates the ways and customs of colonial times) make the square unique making it the most beautiful and quiet of the city.

But maybe the most peculiar of all squares is that of Carmen Square named after the church that precedes it. Here the famous sculptress Martha Jimenez has put several sculptures of natural size that remember popular characters.

The Church Nuestra Señora del Carmen, with its annexed convent is the only one with two towers, but in opposition its interior is rather reduced, with only one building.

Nevertheless its simplicity and excellence fascinate, particularly its facade, of a discreet and elegant Baroque in which some have wanted to see a timid remembrance of the famous Havana Cathedral.

Outside the area recently declared Cultural Patrimony of Humanity, are found other interesting churches, like those of Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje (at the entrance of the General Cemetery), that of Santa Ana, or La Caridad.

To visit Camaguey and not running here and there with its churches is simply impossible; but it would be suitable to look at them more observantly, because they treasure most of the cultural patrimony of city jealous of its past.

(*) Taken from an article A city profiled by churches. Senderos Magazine. No.10. January-June 2010.