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The first church
Garay set aside the same city block for a cathedral in 1580
When Juan de Garay founded the city on June 11, 1580, he set aside the same quarter of a city block that the cathedral occupies today. The first church was a modest construction with adobe and wood walls.
Falling down
The early church collapsed, and the first bishop called it indecent
In 1616 the roof threatened to collapse, and the church ended up collapsing because it was poorly built with rotten willow wood. Wood was brought from Paraguay, and the rebuilding began in January 1618.
“It is so indecent (the cathedral) that in Spain there are places in the fields of shepherds and cattle more comfortable and clean”
Bishop Pedro Carranza, in a letter to the king, 1622
Rebuilt again
The tower and roof fell in the early 1680s, and the nave in 1752
Because of poor materials, the tower and the roof of the second cathedral fell down in the early 1680s. The church was rebuilt from 1684. On the night of May 23, 1752, the nave collapsed, and only the façade and towers were left standing.
The dome
Fissures in the new dome forced a rebuild, and the façade came last
Upon completion of the dome, fissures were detected and it had to be rebuilt. The cathedral was consecrated in 1779 without a façade. From 1826 French architects built a Neoclassical façade with a portico of twelve columns.
Inside
General San Martín's mausoleum is reached from the right aisle
In 1880 the remains of General José de San Martín were brought from France and placed in a mausoleum. The black sarcophagus is guarded by three life-size female figures that represent Argentina, Chile and Peru.
Day 1, morning
It comes after Casa Rosada. Then The Cabildo.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.