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Who can forget a delicious day of adventure or relaxation on the beaches of Puerto Vallarta? Who could not enjoy and appreciate the beautifully varied and colorful sunsets that every evening paint the hills and buildings of the harbor with a different color palette?
Everything is so wonderful in the mind of spectator, they enjoy the scenery as the evening approaches, but a striking architectonical structure stands out among all the elements near the Malecon: a crown appears high up in the sky held up by a tower. This element that represents the city and is used as a symbol of the area, belongs to the main tower of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located a few blocks from the newly renovated seaside promenade, the Malecon. The locals also proudly call it the "Cathedral of Puerto Vallarta".
Without having a well defined style, the crown is predominantly baroque and supposedly is a replica of the crown that Empress Carlota, wife of Maximilian of Habsburg emperor of Mexico in 1864, carried.
The church with its unusual combination of styles, ranging from Renaissance towers and the neoclassical style of the main building, to the contemporary Mexican folk art details becomes a work of art achieved by the combination of diverse criteria from the masons and bricklayers, pastors and the people of Puerto Vallarta.
The temple's origin dates back to the early 20th Century, this being the first church in Puerto Vallarta. The initial idea was that it was to be a small chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, this was the general idea until Father Francisco Ayala, around 1915, suggested that the building should be a tribute to the original Guadalupe building in Mexico City, the Basilica of Guadalupe. With this as the guideline the chapel soon became a parish.
Like many other buildings in Mexico, construction was stopped during the Cristero War. The construction of an area for the chorus, complete with dome and upper body, was the starting signal for the next stage of the church’s development.
On the day of the 420th anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin Guadalupe, according to records of the Catholic Church, the dome of the building was ready.
By 1952 the main tower was now present over the city, but it was not until 1963 that the crown was placed on top of the tower. The outer design of the towers was completed in 1987.
The temple is the heart of the faith of both residents and tourists, masses are conducted in Spanish, French and English, and a bilingual Mass is held on Saturdays and Sundays (more on our Church Section).
Bells tolling is part of the typical local sounds in the city during weekends, and are even more obvious during festivities honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe, during the first 12 days of the month of December.
Tastes, sounds, colors and the sea breeze in the air combine to captivate the senses of everyone who comes close.
Surely the church is now a symbol for this famous beach destination, a very Mexican Puerto Vallarta, that should not only be admired from the outside, but also from within.
In contrast to the religious images on painted wood, the marble altar, carved wooden confessionals and the image of the Virgin Guadalupe by Ignacio Ramirez, artist of the state of Jalisco, this building is full of love, devotion and sacrifices and must be included on the list of places you should visit on your trip to Puerto Vallarta.
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