Catedral de Santa Clara de Asis
Encyclopedia
Catedral de Santa Clara de Asis (Saint Claire of Assisi Cathedral) is a cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 in Santa Clara
Santa Clara, Cuba
Santa Clara is the capital city of the Cuban province of Villa Clara. It is located in the most central region of the province and almost in the most central region of the country.- History :Santa Clara was founded by 175 people on July 15th, 1689...

, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

.
It is the most important religious building in the city. The much argued-about church was built in 1923 after the pull down of the original one in Parque Vidal. Neo Gothic in style, it guards a wonderful collection of lead stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

 windows, the original marble “pilon” or holy water basin used to baptize the citizens since the very birth of the city (those thereby baptized are called "pilongos"), the statue of Jesus in the upper front holds a monstrance
Monstrance
A monstrance is the vessel used in the Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, and Anglican churches to display the consecrated Eucharistic host, during Eucharistic adoration or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Created in the medieval period for the public display of relics, the monstrance today is...

 which is said is made out of pure gold. But the most impressive piece of art is the larger than life statue of Mother Mary inside the structure locally known as “la Virgen del camino” (Travelers' Virgin). This statue used to be, at the beginning of the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...

, on the road to Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

 as a way to bless the incoming or outgoing travelers to the city. It was pulled down soon after and it disappeared for more than three decades. It was finally re-discovered around 1995 in a ditch, roofed by soil and undergrowth. Already forgotten by the citizens of Santa Clara
Santa Clara, Cuba
Santa Clara is the capital city of the Cuban province of Villa Clara. It is located in the most central region of the province and almost in the most central region of the country.- History :Santa Clara was founded by 175 people on July 15th, 1689...

, a political battle ensued to decide whether taking it to a museum or giving it to the church. It was finally granted to the religious authorities.

The construction of this project went through several public scandals. It was always the center of a heated electoral issue for ruling mayors in colonial times. Most of them and a number of citizens back in the 1920s were torn between the possibility of keeping the original "Iglesia Mayor" (Grand Church) located in Parque Vidal
Parque Vidal
Parque Vidal is a park located in the center of Santa Clara Cuba that covers an entire square block. In the middle of it, the Glorieta erected in 1911 still serves for public concerts...

or tearing it down in order to make space for a re-designed and bigger plaza and re-locating the cathedral in a nearby location. Some people insisted in keeping the original colonial building since it was one of the first and oldest standing structures of the growing city realizing its importance as heritage. Eventually it was destroyed and two years later this one was finished. Not happy with this action, Church authorities raised a formal complaint versus the city and won it.
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