Faith restoration: dozens of churches restored in Chiapas

The San Lorenzo temple , built in 1920, lost its three towers and three bells during the earthquake on September 7, 2017, yet the Tzotzil community built a warehouse on the back of the temple, where they are keeping images they found in the midst of concrete blocks, bricks, and rubble, at 10 am., while they prepared to celebrate the Virgen de La Natividad.

For two months, the images of San Lorenzo , Virgen de Candelaria, Virgen María, San Jacinto, San Antelmo, San Pedro Apóstol, Sagrado Corazón, Virgen de Guadalupe, San Diego, San Judas and other were kept safe at the Esquipulas temple , which was built less than three decades ago.

They later decide to build the warehouse in the back of the San Lorenzo temple , but the works, carried out by restorers and construction workers from the INAH, aren't developing fast enough. A year after the earthquake, there is no set date to finish working on the church.

In the warehouse, the Tzotzil community prays and celebrates christenings and weddings there.

In this region, the San Sebastián and Santo Domingo temples are still being restored. Only the San Jacinto temple has been finished.

In the former Santo Domingo convent, the restoration of the pillars is finished, and only one pillar hasn't been modified.

The most serious damage suffered by the former convent, built in 1554, is on the back of the building, where a wall with several fractures inclined towards the Grijalva river. The restorers have placed iron wedges.

La Pila

, a church with a Mudejar style , built in 1562 by Rodrigo de León, a black friar, was restored and the building has been reinforced with iron on the ceiling and pillars.

The San Cristóbal de las Casas Cathedral, the most iconic building in the city, was built in 1528, still has fractures on its pillars and leaks inside, damages on the walls and the altarpiece. “The reparations are focused on the Cathedral's exterior”, explains the Archbishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez.

In San Nicolás , the temple located next to the Cathedral is still being restored. In La Merced , the restoration works on the front have finished.

600 meter from the Cathedral is the Santa Lucía temple, which lost its towers, and the restoration works don't seem to move.

300 meter from Santa Lucía is the San Francisco templ e, which suffered damages on the altarpiece and the top area, as well as slits on the walls and ceiling, is still closed to the public.

The works continue on the Santo Domingo temple , which has a fracture on the central vault. The same happened at the Del Carmen temple , where the arch is still walled and the restorers are still at work.

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