Colombia: They warn that the church of the national vote “is about to fall” by deterioration

The minor basilica of the national vote, raised more than 100 years ago to help the reconciliation of Colombia, “is about to fall” due to the lack of maintenance in its structure, warned the pastor, P. Darío Echeverri.

The priest said that the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – National Vote, in addition to being a renowned Catholic temple, is “a page of the country’s history and very important.”

“Youth need significant icons, pedagogy, peace and reconciliation instruments (…). So what a pity that the national vote fell and is about to fall, ”said Fr. Echeverri to Aci Press.

The danger in the temple has led two Catholic congressmen to present a bill to rescue him.

The origin of the Church of the National Vote

The Church was erected to ask God for the end of the War of the Thousand Days, which faced liberals and conservatives between 1899 and 1902 and left about 100,000 dead.

For Fr. Echeverri, the temple can contribute to reconcile the country again, which in recent years suffers from armed clashes in at least eight regions.

The idea of ​​building the Church was from the then archbishop of Bogotá, Mons. Bernardo Herrera Restrepo, who asked President José Manuel Marroquín Ricaurte to build a temple in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Decree 820 of May 18, 1902 established that the State would help in the building and stressed that it was the duty of the nation to do everything possible to achieve reconciliation among Colombians.

On June 11, 1902 Colombia was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the first stone of the temple was placed. Five months later, the Civil War culminated with the treaties of Dutch and Wisconsin.

Fr. Echeverri said that from that moment on, the country lived a period of peace and every year the presidents renewed the consecration “almost that in an interrupted way until 1991, when a new constitution arose” and “the State declared a secular state , not confessional. ”

The construction culminated in 1918, in 1964 it was elevated to Basilica Minor by San Pablo VI and in 1975 it was declared a National Monument.

The Chrecorromano -style church has several works of art, such as ten paintings by Colombian artist Ricardo Acevedo Bernal, among which are The worship of the Magi, The Sacred Family, Let the children come to me, Transfiguration», And the Appearance of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Santa Margarita.

In addition, there are representations of the four evangelists, stained glass windows in their sideways and several sculptures on the facade, including the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Santa Rosa de Lima, Santo Toribio, San Pedro Claver and San Luis Beltrán.

The deterioration of the Church

However, the environment and the passage of time began to make a dent in the temple. This has forced to place a mesh along the ceiling of the central nave to prevent pieces of the structure from falling on the faithful who go to the daily masses.

In addition, in the bases of three of its central columns there are severe damage, as well as moisture samples in other parts of the Church.

“Today the national vote has two dangers: on the part of the ceiling and for the part of the humidity at its base,” said Fr. Echeverri.

Currently, the Church is surrounded by shops and carries out pastoral work with Venezuelan and homeless migrants.

In recent decades their biggest challenges were cartridge and Bronx, two large -scale drug traffic and drug trafficking centers, eradicated in the late 1990s and 2016, respectively.

The Claretian priest said that authorities, both from the left and right, have collaborated with the maintenance of the national vote church. However, “the entire central nave is pending,” he said. “There are very important works of art from Acevedo Bernal that are rotting,” he said.

“The teacher Max Ojeda, who is one of the most important restorers in the country, said there are beams in the central nave that are eaten,” he added.

A bill to rescue the Church

Restoration is the responsibility of the district of Bogotá and the Ministry of Culture. Therefore, The Attorney General’s Office asked the District Institute of Cultural Heritage to report “On the realization and culmination of the restoration initiated in the basilica of the national vote since 2011”.

The same has been requested from the Directorate of Heritage and Memory in the Ministry of Culture.

For their part, Catholic legislators Mauricio Giraldo and Luis Miguel López Aristizábal have submitted a bill to declare the minor basilica “well of cultural interest of the national level” and allocate a budget for “the restoration and maintenance of their historical architectural heritage” .

The initiative must overcome four debates. He is currently waiting for the second and therefore both congressmen have asked the president of the House of Representatives, Jaime Salamanca, “to be scheduled in the agenda.”

“His abandonment is a reflection of contempt for our history and traditions. We cannot allow it to collapse from the indifference of the authorities, ”they said in a statement.