Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, Clorinda

In Argentina, on the border with Paraguay, there is a building designed by Dom Bellot.

The drawings are in the archive under specification number 49 and were made in June 1929 at the studio in Wisques. The church was consecrated in 1931 and replaced a temporary wooden church. The church has been an independent parish since August 20, 1934.

It is a basilica with a tower next to the sanctuary, in Mediterranean style. The three doors at the front are the trade mark of the architect. Bellot is also unmistakably visible in the interior: twill arches and parabolic arches. The design drawings show clean brickwork above the windows, but in the current interior everything is plastered and no brick is visible anymore. In the exterior, next to the windows and the main doors, there is still some distinctive brickwork visible. The church has a rectangular choir.

Also striking: the windows on the ground floor have a round arch, which is unusual for Bellot, while the windows in the clerestory and the chancel have a twill arch. The triumphal arch towards the chancel has open twill windows, something that was also used in the church at Quarr abbey.

It is unlikely that Dom Bellot himself was in Argentina to take charge of the construction. There is nothing about it in the archives.

Photo’s J. Varwijk, december 2022.