Read aloud by your device's voice. It sounds different on each device.
Five churches
The present cathedral is the fifth built on the same site
In 1541 Pedro de Valdivia assigned the site of an Inca temple on the Plaza Mayor for a church. The first cathedral was built between 1566 and 1600. The present one is the fifth on the site, built between 1748 and 1906.
Earthquakes
Earthquakes in 1647 and 1657 left the old cathedral in ruins
On May 13, 1647, an earthquake ruined almost the entire city of Santiago along with the cathedral. By 1657 another quake had almost completely ruined its structure, and a second rebuilding ran from 1662 to 1687. The 1730 Valparaíso earthquake cracked it again.
The fire
A fire on a night in December 1769 burned the whole old cathedral
On the night of December 22, 1769, a fire destroyed the entire old cathedral. The cause was probably oil from the lamp that lit the Blessed Sacrament. Only an image of the Virgin of Sorrows was saved. Services moved to the Church of la Compañía.
Toesca
The architect Joaquín Toesca took over in 1779 and set the style
In 1779 the Italian architect Joaquín Toesca arrived to direct the construction. He redid the plans, imposed the Neoclassical style and stayed on the works for nearly 20 years.
Finished
Ignacio Cremonesi added two towers, and the cathedral was consecrated in 1906
In 1898 Archbishop Mariano Casanova hired Ignacio Cremonesi, whose design is inspired by a Tuscan or Roman style. He covered the stone with stucco and added two towers to the façade. Casanova consecrated the modified temple on May 5, 1906.
Day 1, morning
It comes after Plaza de Armas. Then Mercado Central.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Santiago 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.