Brutalist Masterpiece: Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Fátima in Costa Rica

The Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Fátima, completed in 1969 in San Pedro de Montes de Oca, Costa Rica, is a landmark of late modern architecture and one of the country's first brutalist buildings. Designed by Nicaraguan architect Alberto Linner, the church was conceived spontaneously on a napkin drawing for Father Pascual Beltrán of the Discalced Carmelites. Its polygonal plan integrates nave and presbytery, eliminating traditional hierarchies and aligning with post-Vatican II liturgical reforms. Linner shifted the spiritual axis from altar to tabernacle. The building uses exposed concrete with varied textures—formwork marks, mat impressions, hammered and polished surfaces—reflecting Carmelite ideals of poverty and humility. Stained glass windows, co-designed by Linner and Father Gerardo López Bonilla, were made in Mexico. The floor tiles came from Chiltepe, Nicaragua. Structural engineering was by Franz Sauter, construction by Rodolfo Vargas, and electromechanical engineering by Armando Gutiérrez. Consecrated on March 19, 1970, the church lost its bell due to neighborhood noise restrictions. In 2012, it was selected for Phaidon's '20th Century World Architecture' and Linner received the National Architecture Prize of Costa Rica and the medal of the Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos. It was declared a National Historic-Architectural Heritage site by Decree N° 38673-C on November 19, 2014.