Metropolitan Cathedral, Mexico City

The Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City has a majestic blend of architectural styles, with its richly ornate Spanish Baroque façade, a Neo-Classical dome and twin bell towers rising 67 metres. It is considered as the ultimate landmark of colonial architecture in America, located in the central square of the city, being the largest Cathedral in Latin America.

It took three centuries to complete this Metropolitan Church. The first stone was placed in 1524 in an act of great symbolic significance, as it was placed at the crossing of the avenues which, from the four cardinal points, lead to the spiritual centre of the Aztec capital. It was built using the stones that had once been a part of the Templo Mayor of the Great Tenochtitlan.

The ultimate landmark of colonial architecture in the American continent, Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral stands majestically in the capital’s Square as the largest Cathedral in Latin America and one of the most emblematic Christian temples in the world.

The history of the Cathedral is also the history of Mexico in the time of the Viceroyalty, and a stone narrative of its diverse architectonical styles. Built across three centuries, we can recognize Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical elements which harmoniously come together to form a piece of great cultural and spatial richness, unique in its genre.

The first stone of the Cathedral was placed by Hernán Cortes in 1524 in an act of great symbolic significance, as it was placed at the crossing of the avenues which, from the four cardinal points, lead to the spiritual centre of the Aztec capital. It was built using the stones that had once been a part of the Templo Mayor of the Great Tenochtitlán.

In 1547 this temple was declared a Cathedral by the Holy See. Years later, the original building was demolished and the foundational stone of the new Cathedral was placed by the Archbishop Pedro Moya and Virrey Martín Enríquez. In 1623, after three decades of work in the interior, the construction of the Sacristy was concluded. The building was eventually inaugurated on December 22^nd 1667. However, the exterior of the Cathedral wasn’t finished until 1813.