Church of La Compañía de Jesús

In front of you is La Compañía, Quito's most photographed church. Its façade is a tapestry of stone; its interior, a casket of gold. An 18th-century travelling Jesuit, Bernardo Recio, called it an “ember of gold”, and the nickname stuck.

1A hundred and sixty years of work

The Jesuits arrived in Quito in 1586, and the church took more than a century and a half to complete. It was modelled on the Gesù in Rome, the order's mother church, and European architects worked on it alongside Quito craftsmen, Indigenous and mestizo. The façade was begun in 1722 and not finished until 1765.

Two years later, in 1767, King Charles III expelled the Jesuits from all his dominions. Many of their works were auctioned or shipped to Spain, but the building remained standing.

2An interior of gold

Inside, altarpieces, columns, vaults and pulpit are covered in gold leaf over carved wood. The geometric patterns on the pillars recall Mudéjar art.

It's often said that the interior holds seven tonnes of gold, but the figure has no backing: the gold is an extremely thin leaf, and the real value lies in the craftsmen's work.

The church has survived earthquakes, such as the one in 1868 that forced the demolition of half its bell tower, and a fire in 1996, after which part of an altarpiece was rebuilt with help from UNESCO.

3What to look for

• The six Solomonic columns of the doorway, inspired by Bernini's in St Peter's.
• The andesite, a volcanic stone from the area.
• The dome over the crossing, with its lantern.