The Chapel of San Jacinto (), formal name Ermita La Conquistadora de la Inmaculada Concepción, is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

located in the town of

Salcajá Salcajá is a town and municipality in Quetzaltenango department of Guatemala. Salcajá is best known for the Church of San Jacinto, founded in 1524, which was the first church built in Central America since it was one of the first places invad ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. It is said to have been founded by the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

s in 1524, the same year the Maya K'iche' kingdom was conquered by the Spanish

conquistadores Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

, and is claimed to be the first church built in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. Although there is no historical evidence to support that claim, the chapel can be considered a fine example of early Spanish colonial architecture.

References

{{Reflist Roman Catholic churches in Guatemala 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Guatemala Roman Catholic churches completed in 1524