La Lechuga
La Lechuga (English: The Lettuce) is a monstrance constructed, between 1700 and 1707, by José de Galaz.[1] La Lechuga was made for the San Ignacio Church of Bogotá, and paid by a group of jesuits in order to hide the gems from the Spanish Crown.[2] Currently, La Lechuga is owned by the Bank of the Republic and it is in display at Bogotá's Colección de Arte del Banco de la Republica.
History
It is widely believed that La Lechuga was ordered to be built by a group of jesuits in order to hide the gemstones from Spanish Crown during the New Kingdom of Granada. The jesuits contracted the Spaniard José de Galaz, that with the help of two other goldsmiths, was able to build the monstrance between 1700 and 1707 at a price of $1,100 Reales, $100,000 USD in today's currency.[3] When José de Galaz finished smithing La Lechuga on 16 July 1707, he estimated the price to be $20,000 Reales, or $2,000,000 USD.[3]
La Lechuga was held by the San Ignacio Church until 1767 until King Charles III of Spain ordered all Spanish possessions to be removed back to Spain. In an effort to avoid La Lechuga from falling into the Kingdom of Spain, the monstrance was taken by a group of jesuits into hiding. Much is unknown throughout the time of its hiding, and it wasn't till 1985, that La Lechuga came back to the eyes of the public after Colombia's central bank, Banco de la Republica, bought it for $3,500,000 USD. Today, La Lechuga can be found in display at Bogotá's Colección de Arte del Banco de la Republica.
The first time La Lechuga left the country was in 2015 where it was displayed at Spain's Museo del Prado between March 3 and May 31 of that same year.[4]
Jewels
Besides the main frame being composed of 8850.3 grams of 18 karat gold,[5] La Lechuga also contains the following gemstones:[5]
- 1,485 emeralds from Muzo, Colombia
- 168 amethysts from India
- 62 pearls from Curaçao
- 28 diamonds from South Africa
- 13 rubies from Dutch Ceylon, today Sri Lanka
- 1 sapphire from Thailand
The large amount of emeralds built into the monstrance, gave its name as the structure when completed, looked as green as a lettuce.