The St Raphael's Church (in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 Iglesia de San Rafael Arcángel) is a colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n church in San Rafael

San Rafael, Antioquia

San Rafael is a town and municipality in Antioquia Department, Colombia. Part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia.-See also:*St Raphael's Church...

 (Department of Antioquia). The church is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sonsón–Rionegro.

History

A little chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

 of straw

Straw

Straw is an agricultural by-product, the dry stalks of cereal plants, after the grain and chaff have been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has many uses, including fuel, livestock bedding and fodder, thatching and...

 and bahareque was built El Sueldo (San Rafael's old name) by Juan Mazo, and the brothers Juan and Agustín Mira for two years since 1864; due to the distance from others churches, the Bishop of Medellín, Herrera Restrepo, created the new parish, with José de Jesús Correa as priest. He believed that the chapel and the village was based in a very remote and narrow location. After, the El Sueldo's inhabitants moved their homes near the river; and just there, Correa began a new church in August 1904, with plans drawn by the architect Emigdio Rincón. Nevertheless, the end of the building was done by the Correa's successors.

The church has three nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

s and one tower; and into that, three altars; one is the high altar, another has the Arcangel Rafel image, and the other one, the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

In front of the facade

Facade

A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....

 is the principal town's principal square; with a bust

Bust (sculpture)

A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...

of Correa.