Cathedral´s History

This is an underground Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine 200 meters underground in a mountain near the town of Zipaquirá, in Cundinamarca, Colombia. It is a very popular tourist destination and place of pilgrimage in the country. The name "Salt Cathedral" is mostly to attract tourists ,while a functioning church that receives as many as 3,000 visitors on Sundays, it has no bishop and therefore no official status as a cathedral in Catholicism. The temple at the bottom has three sections, representing the birth, life, and death of Jesus. The icons, ornaments and architectural details are hand carved in the halite rock. Some marble sculptures are included. The mines were exploited already by the pre-Columbian Muisca culture since the 5th century BC. being one of their most important economic activities. The traditional halite mining was described by Alexander von Humboldt during his visit to Zipaquira in 1801. Years before the underground church was built, (around 1932) the miners had carved a sanctuary, as a place for their daily prayers asking for protection to the saints before starting to work. In 1950 the construction of a bigger project had begun: the Salt Cathedral which was inaugurated on August 15, 1954 and dedicated to Our Lady of Rosary, Patron saint of miners. It was compound of three naves and a monumental cross. Part of the galleries were actually carved by the ancient muiscas. However, as the cathedral was carved inside an active mine, so structural problems and safety concerns led the authorities to shut down the sanctuary in 1990. This construction cost over 285 million U.S. dollars. The building had 120 m length, 5.500 m² surface and 22 m height. It had six main columns, and a maximum capacity of 8,000 people.