Santiago de Managua old cathedral
The old cathedral Santiago de Managua in the Nicaraguan capital Managua was built from 1925 and consecrated in 1946. The building was badly damaged in an earthquake in 1972 and is now in ruins. It is located in the Plaza de la Revolution , formerly Plaza de la República .
In 1993 the successor Catedral Metropolitana de la Inmaculada Concepción de María de Managua was completed.
Previous construction
The first cathedral in Managua was built in 1783 at the instigation of the priest Juan Antonio Chamorro. The first Archbishop of Managua Lezcano y Ortega was consecrated there on May 3, 1914 . The cathedral was demolished in 1925.
history
Construction phase and financing
The Nicaraguan President José Carlos Solórzano Gutiérrez laid the foundation stone for the Catedral de Santiago de Managua on April 5, 1925. Parliament passed a funding bill that put a tax of one United States dollar on every hundredweight of coffee. A private citizen contributed assets from an inheritance. The steel was imported from Belgium . The studio-Metallurgiques, de Nivelles in Belgium calculated 89.094.55 United States dollars for the steel skeleton.
On March 31, 1931 at 10:33 a.m., Managua was destroyed by an earthquake with 5.6 degrees on the Richter scale, killing more than 1,000 people. The financier Monseñór Lezcano was able to save the ashes of the national hero José Dolores Estrada Vado . The steel structure of the cathedral, which had been completed by then, remained undamaged.
Completion and consecration
On December 1, 1938, the Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza García opened the cathedral. In her 1943 his daughter Lillian Somoza married Debayle. The cathedral was consecrated on July 24, 1946, during the centenary of Managua’s nomination.
1972 earthquake
On December 23, 1972 at midday in Managua a strong earthquake of 6.2 degrees on the Richter scale occurred with two aftershocks. It destroyed the center of Managua and killed about 11,000 people. The roof of the cathedral collapsed. As a result, it could no longer be used and is still a ruin in the city center of Managua.
Architecture and facade
A first draft for the building envisaged a large central nave with a separate campanile . Monseñór Lezcano commissioned engineer Pablo Dambach to design the church based on a photograph that he liked better. The cathedral was built as a laminated steel frame building in the neoclassical style. The facade layout is similar to that of St-Sulpice de Paris .
The eastern exterior of the nave housed figures by Bartolomé de Las Casas , Antonio Margil de Jesús, Isabella I of Castile , Monseñor José Antonio Lezcano Morales (an uncle of the financier), Christopher Columbus , Ferdinand VII of Spain and Francisco Hernández de in niches Cordoba , the founder of Nicaragua.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ La Prensa , 06 February 2007 steel skeleton
- ^ El Nuevo Diario , May 5, 2008, La catedral olvidada
Coordinates: 12 ° 9 ′ 22 " N , 86 ° 16 ′ 16" W.