The Church of Our Lady of Mercy, built in 1748, is notable for its architecture. Its barrel vaults, of strong Romanesque heritage, were made of brick. It was a pride of the ancient inhabitants to say that only wood had been used in the doors and windows in the temp
The Church of Our Lady of Mercy, built in 1748, is notable for its architecture. Its barrel vaults, of strong Romanesque heritage, were made of brick. It was a pride of the ancient inhabitants to say that only wood had been used in the doors and windows in the temple.
Its slender and solid tower is one of the most beautiful in Cuba. Local legends frame its origin and reconstruction. One says that there, near a lake and a forest, superstitiously feared, in a few days a whitewashed hermitage appeared, by divine action, cared for by the corresponding religious. The second, that the current temple builder mysteriously disappeared upon completion. One version gives it as a heavenly punishment, because he used the plans destined for another sanctuary; another, that the Devil took him, because he sold his soul to be able to erect the magnificent work; and the third, that they were robbers, aware of the good payment that the Mercedarians had given him for his work.
It appears as one of the models of the consolidation and constructive stability achieved during the 18th century in the religious and civil orders, a stage that was stylistically characterized by the influences of Baroque and Mudejar art, in combination with the Cuban construction tradition.
