Iglesia Los Dolores

Iglesia Los Dolores Review

This towered church dating from 1732 is dedicated to human sorrow, earning it a special place in the hearts of poverty-stricken Hondureños. On the facade—it's the most ornate of any church in the city—you'll see carvings representing the last days of Christ, including the cock that crowed three times to signal that Christ had been betrayed. Although the building keeps official opening hours, unofficially it is frequently closed during the week. If you can get inside, the interior, dominated by a colorful dome, features paintings of the Crucifixion. The church is known to be the nexus of a system of colonial-era tunnels, none of which are open to the public any longer. One leads to the cathedral, six blocks away; others were secret routes to private homes. Local lore holds that the tunnels: a) contain colonial gold worth millions of lempiras; b) served as secret escape routes used by scallywag government officials; c) are haunted; or d) are any combination of the above. The church faces a lively square filled with stalls selling inexpensive goods.