Argentina - Buenos Aires, Metropolitan Cathedral

The Catedral Metropolitana is the most important church in Buenos Aires, located on the Plaza de Mayo. It is the Catholic Church's main site in Argentina, where pope Francis, as archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, used to perform mass before assuming office in the Vatican in 2013.

The first church on this site was built in 1580, when the city of Buenos Aires was founded. The first main church of Buenos Aires was a modest building made of wood and adobe, and was replaced by a new one in 1605, which also had to be rebuild. Due to the bad quality of its building materials, the tower and the roof of this church fell down in the early 1680s.
In 1684, bishop Azcona Imberto ordered the rebuilding of the Catedral Metropolitana. After eleven years the main part - without towers and façade - of the church was completed. Due to economic problems and slow construction progress, it took until 1727 before the cathedral was completely finished.
In 1752 the nave of the cathedral collapsed again, after which it had to be completely rebuilt. It was not until 1863 that the cathedral - including a façade - reached its current form.

The exterior (PiP1) has not the typical cathedral profile as it has no towers and it looks more like a Greek temple with its twelve columns, representing Jesus’s apostles. Cathedral Metropolitana has an impressive interior décor - with its five naves and transept, surmounted by a 41-meters high vault - in neo-Romanesque and neo-Baroque styles. The main gilt wood altarpiece depicts the Holy Trinity and is one of a few remaining elements from colonial times (1785).

The cathedral also hosts a marble mausoleum with the remains of general San Martin, who was the leader of the independence struggle of South America against the Spanish occupier (PiP3).