Late Gothic architecture at Guadalupe and Saña on the northern Peruvian coast and the function of rib vaulting

Abstract

Located in the remote towns of Guadalupe and Sana on the northern Peruvian coast are a group of churches that represent some of the finest examples of Spanish colonial late Gothic architecture. The Augustinian church and monastery of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe (rebuilt after 1619) and the Augustinian church and monastery at Sana (c. 1619) both exhibit impressive systems of rib vaulting harmoniously integrated with Roman arches and domical vaults. This article examines these religious buildings based on first-hand archeological research, with special consideration of the use of Gothic rib vaulting as an anti-seismic structural system and the identification of some late medieval Spanish sources that appear to have inspired their design.