Hey there folks, today we’re talkin’ ’bout Costa Rican towns and their fancy metal churches. Now, you might be thinkin’, “Metal church? What the hell is that?” Well, let me tell ya, the Iglesia de la Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes in Grecia takes the cake for being the only metal church in Central America.
This bad boy is a neo-Gothic masterpiece, built entirely from iron plates that were imported all the way from Belgium. That’s right, we’re talkin’ fancy Belgian steel here, folks. And let me tell ya, this church ain’t your typical red-brick deal. Oh no, it’s painted red from top to bottom, giving it that extra oomph that makes it stand out from all those other plain jane churches.
Now, this church ain’t no spring chicken either. The first chapel was built back in the 1800s, and it was made entirely of wood with a metal roof. But, as fate would have it, it was destroyed by an earthquake. So, the folks in Grecia got together and decided to build a new church, but this time they wanted it to be earthquake-proof.
And what better way to do that than by building a church out of metal, right? So, they sent a request all the way to Europe, asking for the finest iron plates they could get their hands on. And boy, did they deliver. The metal pieces arrived at the port of Limon, and then they had to be transported by oxen cart all the way to Grecia. Can you imagine that? I mean, I get tired just thinking about it.
But, they got it done, and by December 1912, the church was finally completed. And let me tell ya, it’s a beauty. Today, it’s even a national monument in the country. But, over the years, there have been some wild stories about the church’s construction. Some people say it was meant for Greece (you know, the one in Europe), but it got sent to Grecia by mistake. Others say it was supposed to go to Chile, but the bureaucracy got in the way.
But, let’s be real here, folks. The truth is probably a lot less exciting than those stories. It was probably just purchased by the local government and some investors. But hey, who needs boring old facts when you’ve got legends like these, right?
