Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral
The Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City is one of the largest and most impressive ecclesiastical structures in the Western Hemisphere. It was constructed in the Spanish Baroque style of architecture and includes a pair of 64-meter neoclassical towers which hold 18 bells.
The cathedral is the archepiscopal see of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico, and the mother church of the republic. It is located on Mexico City's central square, the Zócalo (officially Constitution Square).
After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, Hernan Cortés began the construction of a Catholic church. The current edifice was begun ca. 1573 adjacent to the old building and the so-called "primitive" cathedral was demolished ca. 1626 when the still-unfinished new cathedral was first used. The side chapel, the Sagrario Metropolitano (1749-69), is the greatest triumph of the Mexican Churrigueresque style. The new cathedral was consecrated in 1667, but the final elements — the bell towers and central dome designed by the Spanish neoclassical architect Manuel Tolsá — were finished in 1813.
Undoubtedly the most famous of the cathedral's retablos, or altars, is the Altar de los Reyes, built by the Spanish artist Gerónimo de Balbás from 1718-1737. It is said to have been the first example of the Estipite style in Mexico and reflects Balbás's previous work as a stage designer.
The cathedral's organs were constructed from 1734-36 by Joseph Nassarre, who like Balbás was a Spaniard working in New Spain. The Epistle organ reincorporated parts of an earlier instrument that had been built by Jorge de Sesma in Madrid from 1689-90.
The soft clay subsoil beneath Mexico City (which was originally built on a lake bed) and the removal of water from the soil has caused the settling of many of the buildings in Mexico City's historic centre. Underground tunnels to stabilize the cathedral have prevented its collapse and have stopped the uneven inclination of its sinking.
Gallery
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Interior of Mexico City Cathedral -
Details of ornate altar -
The pipe organ
