Iglesia de Santo Domingo (Saint Dominic Church).
Address: 9 de Julio 161.
The
basilica of Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Our Lady of Rosary), traditionally
known as Iglesia de Santo Domingo, was formerly a small chapel situated
next to the convent.
By that time, it belonged to the order of
Saint Dominic; after that, priests of the order of Assisi set up
a school in it. In 1810, it was already in a deplorable and decaying condition,
with cracks in the belfry. Since then, several rebuilding attempts were made,
the latter of which took place in 1884.
The church facade,
grandiose, almost spectacular for the period, is organized into three receding
volumes and lightened with two belfries in very slender towers with openwork on
both sides.
The interior, austere and of accurate proportions,
proved to have excellent acoustic conditions and was simply decorated by Ramón
Bley in 1918.
The convent was adjoined on the northern side
of the church, it has a large and nice central yard, surrounded by a gallery with
arches on four sides. Nowadays it houses the Saint Thomas Aquinas North University.