Metropolitan Cathedral of Medellín, Medellín, Colombia Verified listing

Metropolitan Cathedral of Medellín, Medellín, Colombia

The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Medellín, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, serves as the main Catholic church in the city. It honors the Virgin Mary under the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The cathedral stands in the downtown area of Medellín, in the Villanueva neighborhood, on the north side of Bolívar Park. During its construction, people called it Villanueva Cathedral to distinguish it from the Church of Candelaria, which was then the episcopal seat. Today, the name is used less often.

The cathedral is the primary temple of the Archdiocese of Medellín. It hosts the archbishop’s seat and the offices of the Parish of the Cathedral. In addition, Pope Pius XII granted it the liturgical title of Minor Basilica on June 12, 1948, highlighting its spiritual importance. The French architect Charles Émile Carré designed the cathedral in a neo-Romanesque style. The design includes a Latin cross plan with three longitudinal naves crossed by a transept. Its two towers rise 53.20 meters to the cross. The main plan covers 4,608 square meters, while the total built area reaches 7,300 square meters. The cathedral contains roughly 1,120,000 bricks, forming a 97,000-cubic-meter volume.

Italian architect Giovanni Buscaglione carried out the decorative works. He designed the baldachin, altars, pulpit, choir stalls, stained-glass windows, and pavements. Other artistic houses contributed to various details of the cathedral. The cathedral also contains a small religious art museum in an adjacent room. It displays about 40 paintings and 15 sculptures from the 17th to 19th centuries, but it is not open to the public. Finally, the Colombian Ministry of Culture declared the cathedral a Site of Cultural Interest of National Character in 2004. The designation ensures the preservation of one of Colombia’s most important religious and cultural landmarks.

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