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CUZCO: THE .AND
CITY OF PERU
SAN BLAS: (Parroquial).
JI'o the height s and th e ea t of the city, found ed in the Incaic
sul>u rb termed TI occo acchi. A visit should certa inly b e made
to San Bias if inter ested in its famous pulpit, ornamental
wood carvings and original pairutings. The pulpit i.s famed the
world o ·pr. It is impo ible to deci.pher or ima gine t he idea or
t be origin of its lettering o.r carvings in ali d etails. Dunated by
Bislwp Mollendo i Angulo about the end of the 17th Century.
According to tradition t he desig.ner was an Indian whose head
appears in the decor ations of t he pulpit. On aceount of it now
being en cl rd in gla s he work cannot b e el.ose!~ scrutinfaed.
Th is is owing to many c- urio l runte,r_s · f omner times having carried
with then pie of he ~''ork as 1' m mb an ee. P árroco, a learned
an.d seriou p , . ·ns t he cha.racters of t he pulpit in that
t h••. si.gnify he etic lrrunken Íi ad¡¡ mov iu g rt;heir tangues wihen
wishing ate or t elll r.ecrets of the
church.
In a1ddibon t o th e pulpjt tl1 er e is to b e aéLmired the series of
al tar pictures bu t p-:r incipally in t he Mayor and as follows:
Los ocho li em~os de la Vida de San Blas, (eight drawings on
t he L ifo of San Bla,s) . on -the higher walls, depicting "El Martirio
de San Bias " , "El Martirio de las Siete Damas que siguieron
á San Bla '' and ''La Resurrección de L á zaro'' are according to
t he opinion of Co sio del P omar from t he brush of Dominichino.
There a lso ll!mong these works various a t t ributed to the
artist s of Cuzco, differin g fr orm t he above mentioned, however, in
teBhnique atvd composition. It is hard ly posMble to fa.i.1 to observe
the distinction between t be p <' or inte rior archite~ ture of the
t emple (witbout cl1 aracter and un attrac tive ) and the jewels1
sculpt nre work and painti11gs to be found within it.
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