Ruinas de Cartago (Parroquia de Santiago Apóstol)

OVERVIEW

The stone shell of the church of Santiago Apóstol in the centre of Cartago, Costa Rica's colonial capital. Churches on the site were destroyed by earthquakes repeatedly from the seventeenth century; the present walls belong to a Romanesque rebuilding begun in 1870 that was abandoned after the earthquake of 1910 levelled the city. The interior is a garden and the ruin is the city's emblem.

HISTORY

Cartago lost the capital to San José in 1823 and much of itself in 1841 and 1910. The ruin has been stabilised and is a protected monument.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

The legend of the Padre sin Cabeza: a priest killed at the altar by a jealous rival — his brother, in the usual telling — whose sacrilege is why the church could never be finished, and who is seen saying mass to the dead, headless when he turns to give communion. It is one of the canonical Costa Rican legends, collected in the standard anthologies and told on the city's night walks.

VISITING

The garden inside the walls is open in daylight; the exterior is on the main square.