Santa Rosalia in Baja California Sur is a mining town on the shores of the Gulf of California. It is an ugly place, only the old French quarter is worth a short visit. The most notable is the Iglesia de Santa Barbara, the church building designed by Gustave Eiffel, the same Eiffel who designed the famous tower in Paris and built Statue of Liberty in New York City. The French architect came up with the idea of the folding churches that could be sent quickly and easily to overseas colonies. He presented his first church based on this idea at the exhibition in Paris in 1889. After the exhibition, the steel structure was dismantled and moved to Brussels, Belgium where the mining company from San Igancio, Mexico acquired it. The church in pieces was shipped by sea and assembled here in 1897. The church is made of stamped steel sheets, mainly squares. When assembled, the roof from the inside resembles a capsized boat. Eiffel’s church is an ugly steel structure, but is based on the unique and clever idea.
