Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús: Neo-Gothic Church

Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) is a notable and historic Roman Catholic church located in Medellín, which is worth seeing – particularly if you like Neo-Gothic style architecture. This beautiful church has many stained-glass windows and other religious artwork.

Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús is located in Barrio Corazón de Jesús, which is in the La Candelaria comuna (El Centro). In addition, Barrio Corazón de Jesús is popularly known as Barrio Triste (Sad neighborhood – more about this below).

Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, photo by Andres Aleman

History of Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús

In the beginning of the 20^th century, there was a desire to build a new to church west of downtown Medellín to stop the overflowing growth of this neighborhood in Medellín that was being invaded by commerce and bars. In addition, the goal was to build a church so the neighborhood would be developed into a residential area with family homes, west of downtown.

Land was donated by the Urban Development Company and the church was authorized by Archbishop Manuel José Cayzedo. So, construction of the large brick church started in November 1923 under the direction of Belgian architect Agustín Goovaerts.

In 1928, engineer Pepe (Jesús) Mejía, from the Belgian architecture firm Félix Mejía y Cia, took over the project as Goovaerts had returned home to Belgium. Finally, the church was completed in November 1941. And the parish for the church was created in January 1942.

A residential neighborhood never really developed around the new church. And today the area is mainly industrial near the church. Furthermore, near the church you will find many small auto repair shops, auto parts stores and several other shops, restaurants and local bars.

Inside the church on the left side

Church is a National Monument of Colombia

Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús is a historic church in Medellín with a Neo-Gothic style that is different than many other churches in Colombia. Consequently, the church was declared a National Monument of Colombia on August 31, 1998.

National Monuments of Colombia (Monumentos Nacionales de Colombia) include buildings, nature reserves, archaeological sites, historic districts and urban areas that for values of authenticity, originality, aesthetics, and artistic techniques which are considered an expression of the Colombian nationality.

There currently are over 1,000 National Monuments of Colombia. And over 15 are located in the Medellín metro area. Two other churches we have looked at are National Monuments of Colombia:  Catedral Basílica Metropolitana in Medellín and Hato Viejo Chapel that we looked at along with Nuestra Señora del Rosario located in Bello.

The central nave inside Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús

Inside Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús

Inside Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús you will find a beautiful interior that is white and yellow with gold trim. And it has wooden pews.

There are many pieces of religious artwork to be found throughout this church. In addition, the church has many stained-glass windows.

Artwork and stained-glass inside the church

Additional artwork and stained-glass inside the church

One of many stained-glass windows inside Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús

Confessionals on the left side of the church

Many other churches in the city have confessionals on both the right and left sides. However, Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús only has confessionals on the left side of the church.

History of Barrio Triste

Not many people know the official barrio name of barrio Corazón de Jesús where Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús is located. This barrio is more popularly known as Barrio Triste (Sad neighborhood).

Reportedly, the neighborhood received this name from a French man with the name of Tristan who opened a mechanics workshop in the neighborhood. But Colombians couldn’t pronounce “Tristan” correctly so they started calling the area “Triste”.

Barrio Triste also became known through the film La Vendedora De Rosas (The Rose Seller) by Colombian director Victor Gaviria. This film released in 1998 received a Golden Palm nomination at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film is a about a young 13-year old girl, Monica, who lives in glue-sniffing squalor in the streets of Medellín. Abandoned, she scrapes together money to feed her habit by selling roses to couples in bars.

Unfortunately, this neighborhood hasn’t changed from the time of this film. During the day, it is an active commercial area with many car repair and other industrial shops and many small restaurants. And at night the area becomes more dangerous with homeless people and drug sellers. So, it’s not a place to go after dark.

At night, Barrio Triste vacates. According to an article in the El Colombiano newspaper earlier this year, only 46 people actually live in barrio Corazón de Jesús, making it one of the least populated barrios in the city with only two inhabitants per square kilometer. So, the original goal of building Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús to attract a residential neighborhood was definitely not successful.

How to Get to Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús

Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús is conveniently located only two blocks from the Cisneros metro station on Line B of the Medellín metro. Furthermore, you can see the church from the metro on the left side coming from San Antonio station going west.

The short two-block walk from the metro station to the church is an industrial area with many auto repair shops. Most noteworthy, around the Cisneros metro station it is considered to be fairly dangerous at night. But during the day with people around it is relatively safe.

Also, many taxi drivers in Medellín will know where Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús is located. If not, just tell the driver “la iglesia cerca de la estación de metro Cisneros.”

Address: Carrera 57A # 44A-15, Barrio Sagrado Corazón, Medellín

Phone: +57 4 231 2942

Email: sagradocorazondejesusmedellin@arqmedellin.co

Hours: The church is mainly open in the mornings each day until the early afternoon at about 2:00 pm. We recommend calling before going to make sure it is open.

The Beautiful Churches in Medellín and the Aburrá Valley

In the metropolitan Medellín metro area (Aburrá Valley), there are over 300 Roman Catholic churches. Most notably, there is a complete list of all the churches of the Archdiocese of Medellín.

We have looked at a total of 33 beautiful churches in the Medellín metro area and the Aburrá Valley in a series on this website. And 22 of the churches we have looked at in detail are in Medellín:

1. Catedral Basílica Metropolitana – the main church of the Archdiocese of Medellín and the largest church in the city.
2. Iglesia de La Candelaria – the oldest church in Medellín, which is also a National Monument of Colombia.
3. Iglesia San Antonio and Plaza San Antonio – the church with the largest dome in Medellín located next to Plaza San Antonio with four Fernando Botero sculptures.
4. Iglesia Jesús Nazareno – another of the most beautiful churches in Medellín.
5. Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro – a beautiful Gothic-style church in Medellín.
6. Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús – a neo-Gothic-style church located in Barrio Triste in Medellín.
7. Iglesia de San José – a Boroque-style church located in El Centro, Medellín.
8. Iglesia del Señor de las Misericordias – a neo-Gothic-style church located in the Manrique neighborhood of Medellín.
9. Iglesia San José – a Romanesque-style church located next to Parque Poblado in El Poblado.
10. Iglesia de la Veracruz – a colonial church with a history that goes back to 1682, which makes it one of the oldest churches in Medellín.
11. Iglesia de San Ignacio – a beautiful church in El Centro with a Baroque-style exterior and colonial interior.
12. Iglesia de Nuestra Señora – a Roman-style church located next to Parque Belén in Medellín.
13. Iglesia el Calvario – a Romanesque-style church in the Aranjuez comuna in Medellín.
14. Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Sufragio – a neo-Romanesque-style church in the Boston barrio in Medellín.
15. Iglesia de San Benito – a neo-Romanesque-style church with a history that traces back to 1678, which make it one of the oldest churches in Medellín.
16. Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores – a Neo-Byzantine-style church in the La América comuna in Medellín.
17. Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Sagrado Corazón – a beautiful Neo-Gothic-style church in the Buenos Aires comuna in Medellín.
18. Iglesia de Cristo Rey – a beautiful church in the Guayabal comuna of Medellín with many beautiful stained-glass windows.
19. Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores – a beautiful Neoclassical-style church in the Robledo comuna of Medellín, which is also a National Monument of Colombia.
20. Iglesia del Cementerio San Pedro – a beautiful church built in 1929 that has some of the most beautiful stained-glass windows found in the churches in Medellín.
21. Iglesia de El Niño Jesús de Praga – a beautiful church in the Villa Hermosa comuna in Medellín.
22. Iglesia San Joaquín – a beautiful church in the Laureles-Estadio comuna in Medellín that is reportedly the second largest church in Medellín.

Also, we have looked at the principal church in each of the other nine municipalities in the Aburrá Valley:

1. Iglesia de Santa Gertrudis – a beautiful church in Envigado located next to Parque Envigado.
2. Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Rosario – a church located in Bello that is arguably the most beautiful church in the Aburrá Valley
3. Iglesia de Santa Ana – a very popular church in Sabaneta located next to Parque Sabaneta.
4. Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Rosario – a historic church in Itagüí near Medellín with a history that traces back to 1743.
5. Nuestra Señora Chiquinquirá – a beautiful church in La Estrella with a Neo-Gothic-style.
6. Catedral Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes – a Neoclassical-style church with a history that traces back to 1793 and is located in the Caldas municipality south of Medellín.
7. Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción – a Baroque-style church with a history that traces back to 1715 and is located in the Copacabana municipality north of Medellín.
8. Catedral de Nuestra Señora del Rosario – a Neo-Romanesque-style church located in the Girardota municipality northeast of Medellín.
9. Iglesia de San Antonio de Padua – a Neo-Romanesque-style church located in the Barbosa municipality northeast of Medellín.

Also, we looked at two smaller colonial-style churches while looking in detail at two nearby larger churches:

1. Hato Viejo Chapel – a colonial-style church in Bello built between 1772 and 1796. It’s also a National Monument of Colombia. We looked at Hato Viejo Chapel while covering Nuestra Señora del Rosario.
2. Capilla de María Auxiliadora – a colonial-style church in Barbosa built between 1773 and 1776. We looked at Capilla de María Auxiliadora while covering Iglesia de San Antonio de Padua.

In addition, we looked at Las Lajas Sanctuary located in Ipiales, Colombia, which is considered the most beautiful church in Colombia. Also, it’s considered by many to be one of the most beautiful churches in the world.

Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón at night, photo by Paco Godoy

The Bottom Line: Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús

Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús isn’t found in any of the 10 English language Colombia travel guidebooks that I have. But it’s worth seeing this Neo-Gothic-style church. And it’s easy to get to since the church is only about two blocks from the Cisneros metro station.

Seems like, in my experience, that most of the travel guidebooks in English about Colombia are missing many of the best places in the cities and pueblos in Colombia.

Consequently, we have covered the beautiful churches in the Medellín metro area in a comprehensive series on this website. Most noteworthy, we did this since a majority of the beautiful and notable churches in the city are missing from the English-language travel guidebooks about Colombia.