Church of Our Lady of Mercy

Church of Our Lady of Mercy Review

The brick red Church of Our Lady of Mercy (Iglesia de las Mercedes) is made of prefabricated iron. It's one of two buildings in the country made from steel frames and iron sheets imported from Belgium in the 1890s (the other is the metal schoolhouse next to San José's Parque Morazán), when some prominent Costa Ricans decided that metal structures would better withstand the periodic earthquakes that had taken their toll on so much of the country's architecture. The frames were shipped from Antwerp to Limón, then transported by train to Alajuela—from which the metal walls of the church were carried by oxcarts.