Morelia Cathedral, Morelia
Left: The intricate facade of Morelia Cathedral (GFDL); right: detail of Morelia Cathedral (© Benjamin Earwicker).
Built in a combination of styles between 1600 and 1774, Morelia Cathedral's two 60-m (200-ft) high towers dominate the skyline of the city of Morelia in Michoacán state, Mexico.
Morelia Cathedral (officially named Cathedral of the Divine Savior of Morelia) is widely considered one of the most beautiful Catholic churches in Mexico. It is built of local pink volcanic stone and combines the architectural styles of Neo-Classical, Herreresque and Baroque. The cathedral's impressive size was necessary to place it at the top of the hierarchy of the city's religious buildings, and to make plain Morelia's superiority to rival Pátzcuaro.
Inside the cathedral, highlights include a silver baptismal font in a side chapel (Mexico's first emperor, Agustín de Iturbide, was baptized here), a beautiful organ with 4,600 pipes, and a 16th-century corn-paste statue of the Señor de la Sacristía. The statue's gold crown was a gift from Philip II of Spain.
Sources: Eyewitness Travel Guide to Mexico and Frommer's Mexico 2005.
