Art and Faith Intermingle in Old San Juan

Graffiti art on a garage door

Puerto Rico is a land of creativity and spirituality and Old San Juan is a great place to sample this mixture in a condensed format. I can definitely see why it attracts artists, the city itself is a great muse. Official and unofficial art have been subtly woven into the fabric of the municipality to great affect. Artists come from all over the world to unleash their artistic flare (Lindsay Daen who sculpted La Rogitiva below is a Kiwi - though growing up in Australia we might as well claim him for ourselves! His work is also represented in Brisbane and Adelaide). We also met with some of the city's own suffer-for-your-art type artists currently residing in Old San Juan; they may not be world-reknowned but they had talent and personality to boot!

Religion plays a vital role in Puerto Rican identity and churches abound in Old San Juan. These are beautiful in their simplicity and you can feel the energy emanating from their vibrant facades. Puerto Ricans are very expressive about their religion like everything else, and by what one can observe in this city, it speaks volumes. 

Art and Artists

This city has such interesting and wonderful sights to see and I'm not just talking about the pretty buildings. Sculptures, monuments and artwork abound around every corner and can be seen adorning every square. Some can even be found in the most unexpected places, sprucing up an othewise drab corner or wall. Unlike other city art, which let's face it, can be pretty boring, much of these works are intriguing and lively additions without dating.

To the left is the Statue of Eugenio Maria de Hostos, in Park de Beneficencia located near the School of Arts and some great museums in Old San Juan. This is one of my favourites, I love the people (supposedly children but they look rather adult to me) dancing on his arms. Known as "El Cuidadano de América" (The Citizen of the Americas), Hostos was a Puerto Rican educator, philosopher, intellectual, lawyer, sociologist and independence advocate.

In the U.S. Hostos joined the Cuban Revolutionary Committee and became the editor of a journal called La Revolución. He wanted to promote the independence of Puerto Rico and Cuba. He travelled extensively and did much to benefit a number of Latin American countries, reorganising the educational and railroad systems, despite being unable to realise his dream of Puerto Rican independence.

This monument is located near La Casa Blanca (The White House), the ancestral home of Ponce De Leon. Built in 1521 it is one of the oldest remaining in San Juan. Today, it is a museum that chronicles the life of modern Puerto Rico's founding family. I really wanted to see it but alas, it was closed for renovations!

Another inspiring statue is the La Rogativa situated in a Plaza by the same name, right on the edge of the city wall, just inside the San Juan Gate. It is a sculpture by Lindsay Daen and depicts the march made by a Bishop and a number of religious women in 1797 to scare off an invading British fleet, of none other than Ralph Abercromby. As we know, the attack was successfully repelled by the military, but what happened after was that Abercrombie organized a naval blockade to starve the residents of San Juan, cutting their access to supply shipments by sea. A ‘rogativa’ (divine entreaty) was ordered by the governor to appease the already desperate citizens of San Juan. Remarkably, it worked; bearing torches, bells and crosses the procession ran them off, though it is assumed they fooled the British into thinking reinforcements had arrived.


Not as fanciful but definitely commanding, is the Statue of Cristopher Columbus in Plaza de Colon (Colon being the Spansih version of Columbus), not far from San Cristobal fort. Erected in 1893 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the his arrival in Puerto Rico, the monument displays a statue of Columbus perched atop a giant pillar, towering over the square. The elaborately sculpted base contains bronze tablets which record important events in the explorer's life.

The Zeno Animal Sculptures in a cute little plaza called Plaza de las Monjes (The Nun's Square), opposite the San Juan Cathedral, are adorable. There is a funny looking cat with a giraffe-like neck, a rooster, and then a boat nestled in the garden that looks like Scruffy-the-tugboat carrying a bunch of penquins! At first it seemed cute but odd, until I found out the Museo del Ninos (The Children's Museum) is just off of the plaza.

Below: A few more interesting pieces we came across along our ramblings.
Left: How about these cat chairs! I don't know who did them but their significance must have something to do with the millions of cats roaming the streets of Old San Juan; they're something of an unofficial mascot really. Right: a surprise we found tucked away underneath a tree.

Street Art:

Left: Interesting mural outside of Casa Borinquen on San Sebastian St. We thought it was just a crazy figment of someone's imagination but its actually a symbol of national pride - a portrait of independence leader, Pedro Albizu Campos. This street is full of bars and cafes and is the site of an annual mardi-gras-stye festival. Right: This was found and taken at night. To me it looks a lot like Lauryn Hill of The Fugees fame.

A bonafide modern artists' gathering:

On the day we arrived in San Juan, our host, Ali, was going to his weekly get together with a bunch of artists in the area. Ali is an artist himself, predominantly photography and graphic design. He spent his formative years in America and in the military but now that he's retired he is back in his native land and following his passion. We were invited along and of course we accepted.

The view to San Cristobal fort

We met at one of the fellow's places. I don't remember any of their names except one (of course the most outlandish one!). Negotiating the labyrinth of stairs and walkways to his apartment we could've been in a horror movie going to our demise. Luckily, we have better luck - and judgement, than that and it turned out to be a fantastic experience. Inside his apartment we stepped out into his little balcony where we had a spectacular view of the city wall and its garita in front. San Cristobal, illuminated by a street lamp, was almost next door and to the other side you could see El Morro in the distance.

The three old fellas we met were absolute characters. They were American escapees searching for inspiration and enlightenment in which to hone their crafts. All four (including Ali) had different areas of expertise, so it was good to be able to ascertain the different perspectives of each one. We all brought something to snack on in pot-luck style, but our host provided the delicious main. Mostly we sat around talking politics and other nonsense and then it turned to art. They were wanting to start a collective and Ali had a proposal for the logo of the group. It was made up of layers of symbols within the whole and he wanted to see if we could discover what they were; I was excited to be able to pinpoint the most important one! 

Next we moved onto Kareem, the crazy African American with the big personality. His forte was painting. He exhibited two paintings for our judgement. The first was an abstract version of two native tree leaves. He brought out the actual leaves and explained the motive: pointing out their different shapes and contours before producing the end result for us to see. This made it much more intriguing and it was good to read into the context of the painting. The other painting was a completely abstract piece and he wanted to know what we saw in it and at which angle it was most effective.

We admired some pieces of our hosts that were on display, a paper mache-style table lamp amongst others, before being enticed downstairs to the third fellow's apartment to see his collection of inanimate objects he'd created. We were dumbfounded; his whole place was taken over by these little pieces and they were very ingenius.

He took pieces he found along the coast and made intricate sculptures out of them. This fellow was the quietest of the bunch, you could see he was just sitting there taking it all in, but he looked like he was having a good time and he definitely was proud to show his work off. His apartment faces out onto the street and they told us people were always gawking in through the wooden bars to get ea look at his work.

Religion and Worship           

Spain also left it's imprint on the territory's religion and Catholicism is still the dominant faith. It can be seen in many aspects of the art and history of this place; plaques on the facade of people's homes, monuments, decorations, and the many enchanting houses of worship. Less than a century ago, over 90 percent of the population could be said to be Roman Catholic. More recently, particularly due to the inflow from the United States of America, Protestant faiths have taken hold and currently claim as much as one-third of the population as worshipers.

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Today, Puerto Rico practices freedom of religion and the significance of the religious landmarks that grace Old San Juan extend far beyond any one faith.

La Iglesia de San Jose in the north-west near El Morro and the de Hostos Statue, was the second Church built in Puerto Rico. I love the stark, gothic facade, especially as you see it approaching from far down the street. It contains a variety of artistic and architectural details which are representative of the different eras of the church's construction and remodeling. It is currently closed for further renovations and is much bigger than the front portrays.





This is the first and only Presbyterian Church in the Old San Juan area. It has a simple, magnificent design and is right by La Fortaleza

Catedral de San Juan Bautista: This is the Grandaddy of the churchs here in San Juan, it is the oldest in Puerto Rico and the secondest oldest in the Americas.  Its original wooden structure was destroyed by a hurricane in 1526 and reconstruction began in 1529.

Some of the original achitectural components that have remained of this now neoclassical structure are its four Gothic chapels (one of which has an urn containing the remains of St. Pius), a vaulted tower, gothic ceilings, and a circular staircase. This along with those characteristics of La Iglesia de San Jose, are rare examples of Medieval architecture in the Americas. The cathedral also houses the tomb of Spanish explorer and the Island’s first governor, Juan Ponce de León. Most recently, an altar was erected in honor of the Blessed Carlos “Charlie” Rodríguez, the first Caribbean-born layman to be beatified.

It is located by the Plaza de las Monjes which also fronts El Convento, the most enchanting hotel I've ever seen (in pictures anyway). Built as Carmelite Convent 356 years ago it was closed in 1903 but later restored as an opulent hotel in 1962. I really want to stay there one night, to be whisked away to a world when rooms contained rich wooden beams, handcrafted tiles, carved chairs, chests, and velvet settees, and have imaginary conversations with Rita Hayworth, Lady Bird Johnson and Ethel Merman, some of the hotel's past guests. Can't you just see me fitting in?

Capilla del Cristo (Cristo Chapel) built in 1753 sits perched atop the city wall in an out-of-the-way corner, and we almost missed it for the cafe tables spread out on this pedestrian-only street. It's a tiny chapel I almost mistook for a gate with a bell on top. It's small and cute but otherwise unremarkable save for another Puerto Rican legend surrounding it. Depending on what you read the story varies but they all agree there was a man with a horse in a race down this street during the fiesta of St John's Day and the rider lost control and plunged over the precipice. Whether he lived, and the chapel was built to commemorate the miracle, or whether he died, and the chapel blocked off the street and prevented such an accident from happening again, is the part of the story that is in dispute. Either way it's a fascinating story that lifts the aura of this chapel.