Question: What’s more than 800 feet below ground, 59 feet tall and can hold more than 8,000 people?

Answer: Zipaquirá’s Salt Cathedral, one of the most notable achievements of Colombian architecture.

The impressive underground Salt Cathedral was first built in 1954 in salt mines that had been used for centuries. But structural problems and safety concerns led the authorities to close the sanctuary in 1990. The present church was built between 1991 and 1996 and is about 200 feet below the original shrine. It uses hallways in inactive parts of the salt mines. The result is interlinked rooms of  different sizes that contain 14 small chapels representing the stations of the cross. Each station has a cross and several kneeling platforms carved into the salt structure. 

The largest area is the actual cathedral, which is 59 feet tall and about 246 feet in length. It is said to be able to hold 8,400 people.  The central cathedral’s cross is more than 52 feet high.  The salt cathedral attracts visitors from around the world, with as many as 3,000 on Sundays. The complex includes an interesting museum of mining, mineralogy, geology and natural resources, and is located in the town of Zipaquirá about 30 miles north of  Bogota.  Zipaquirá’s Salt Cathedral is included in many of our Colombia journeys such as Colombia’s Colonial Cities, Coffee Culture & Coast.