San Miguel Cathedral

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Facade of the Cathedral of San Miguel

The Cathedral of San Miguel or officially Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace ( Spanish Catedral Basílica Reina de la Paz ) is a Roman Catholic church in San Miguel , El Salvador . The cathedral of the diocese of San Miguel is consecrated with the patronage of the Regina Pacis of the Blessed Mother Mary and bears the titles of a national shrine and a minor basilica .

history

The foundation of the parish with the construction of a chapel took place with the colonial establishment of the village at the beginning of the 16th century. After the resettlement of the place around 1590, a new parish church of San Miguel Arcángel was built. In 1740 there were two convents at the church. This was demolished in 1862 in order to build a larger church, which should also serve as a place of worship for the statue of the Virgin of Peace , which reached the place after the pirate raids by Francis Drake in 1692 . The foundation stone was laid by President Gerardo Barrios on November 21 of the same year.

The first site manager was the English engineer William Kirk, who had to leave the project shortly after Barrios' death. Still unfinished, the church was given the rank of cathedral of the new diocese of San Miguel on February 11, 1913 by papal decree of Pius X. Eight years later, precisely on November 21, 1921, Monsignor Juan Antonio Dueñas y Argumedo announced the city patronage of Nuestra Señora de La Paz and the papal coronation of the image of Mary in the name of Pope Benedict XV. The construction of the church could only be declared finished in 1962 on the initiative of Pastor Óscar Romero, exactly one century after it had begun . In 1966 the church was given by Pope Paul VI. additionally awarded the title of a minor basilica .

Building

The main material used in the construction of the cathedral was volcanic stone, which is said to have been transported from the San Miguel volcano . The style of the single-nave cathedral with a crossing dome is eclectic . Many construction and equipment parts were commissioned abroad, such as the steel roof structure and the artificial sky, which came from Belgium in 1926. The components were assembled by the Filipino engineer Alberto C. Geraldo, who was also responsible for the erection of the 57 meter high bell towers that are the hallmark of the building.

In addition, the bells come from Germany, the stained glass windows with biblical figures were made in Mexico and the marble high altar, which houses the image of Our Lady of Peace in the apse , comes from Italy. Outside the temple there are two marble busts of Luis de Moscoso and Gerardo Barrios, while in the upper part of the facade there is a statue of Christ the King .

The cathedral can accommodate up to two thousand people, therefore it is considered to be the second largest in capacity in the country after the Cathedral of San Salvador ; it is also the tallest construction in the eastern part of El Salvador with an inner height of 25 meters.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Catedral Basílica Reina de la Paz on gcatholic.org
  2. ^ Diocese history
  3. ↑ a b Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Paz on skyscrapercity.com
  4. ↑ a b Father Romero, the man before the monsignor and the archbishop
  5. ^ Catedral de an Miguel

Coordinates: 13 ° 28 '58.6 "  N , 88 ° 10' 29.1"  W.