La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús (The Church of the Society of Jesus, known colloquially as La Compañía) is a Jesuit

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 church in the historic center of Quito

Quito

San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...

, Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

. It is one of the best-known churches in Quito because of its large central nave, which is profusely decorated with gold leaf guilded, plaster and wood carvings. It was modeled after the Church of the Gesù

Church of the Gesu

The Church of the Gesù is the mother church of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order also known as the Jesuits. Officially named , its facade is "the first truly baroque façade", introducing the baroque style into architecture ,. The church served as model for innumerable Jesuit...

 and Sant'Ignazio

Sant'Ignazio

The Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola at Campus Martius is Roman Catholic titular church dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, located in Rome, Italy...

 in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

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Styled in Latin American Baroque, it took the Jesuits order almost 160 years to finish construction. Design elements include a near symmetrical facade, Moorish influence in the nave, and artwork by artists of the Quito School of Art. The bell tower was one of the tallest structures from the colonial period, but fell as effect of the earthquakes of 1859 & 1868

1868 Ecuador earthquakes

The 1868 Ecuador earthquakes occurred at 19:30 UTC on August 15 and 06:30 UTC on 16 August 1868. They caused severe damage in the northeastern part of Ecuador and in southwestern Colombia. They had an estimated magnitude of 6.3 and 6.7 and together caused up to 70,000 casualties...

. Over the past twenty-years, the church has undergone a lengthly restoration work, especially since a fire damaged the interior of the nave.

A sarcophagus with the remains of Ecuador's patron saint, Mariana de Jesús, is located in the base of the central altar

Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

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