Metropolitan Cathedral

The "Catedral Metropolitana" is located beside the Zocalo or Main Square. It was the first cathedral in La Nueva España and is the oldest one in the Americas. It has a Baroque-style facade and 64-meter high Neoclassical-style towers which hold 18 bells.

Having destroyed the Aztec temples on this spot, Hernán Cortés (the conqueror) ordered the construction of a Catholic church on the same spot. The first church was demolished in about 1573 and the Spaniards built a new cathedral with stones from the many local Aztec buildings that the Spanish had destroyed. The cathederal was built to look like those in Spain. It was consecrated in the year 1667, but the final elements -bell towers and central dome- designed by Manuel Tolsá were not finished until 1813.

Restoration work mostly done underground has prevented the collapse of this largest Catholic Church in Latin America! On April 11, 1989, heavy rainfall revealed severe cracks in the cathedral building. This caused a great deal of concern about its conservation of the cathederal and led to the work that is still being performed.