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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Medellín (Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de Medellín) is one of the most impressive buildings in the city. It’s located in the Villanueva neighborhood on the north side of Parque Bolívar in El Centro.
The Metropolitan Cathedral is officially dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. It was elevated to a Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XII on June 12, 1948. If you want to visit, it’s best to go in the morning during one of the scheduled mass times. It’s not usually open in the afternoon except on weekends and holidays.
Architecture of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Medellín
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Medellín was designed by French architect Émile Charles Carré (1863-1909) in the Romanesque Revival style. Construction started on January 19, 1890, and it was dedicated on August 12, 1931. It was built using about 1,120,000 bricks, making it one of the largest brick buildings in the world. The two towers on the façade are each 52 meters high.
Nave
The cathedral is on a Latin Cross plan with three aisles and covers an area of 4,608 square meters. 16 large columns topped with Corinthian capitals, 8 on each side, separate the nave into 3 aisles. The columns are 9 meters high and 1.2 meters wide. The central aisle is 14.5 meters wide by 98.5 meters long while the left and right aisles are each eight meters wide.
164 pews were built by Luis Eduardo Arenas in 1928, and an additional 80 were built in 1952 using the same design. The floor of the nave was made in Belgium and installed in 1929.
The 12 chandeliers hanging above the central aisle were made in New York City by Rambusch Decorating Company. They were donated by Colombian businessman and philanthropist Pablo Tobón Uribe (1882-1954).
Transept
The transept is 63.4 meters long and 14.5 meters wide. At each end is a marble altarpiece. The altar in the west transept is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception while the altar in the east transept is dedicated to the Heart of Jesus.
Two doors are also located on each end of the transept. The doors to the south open to the atriums on the sides of the building. The door on the north side of the east transept leads to the sacristy while the door on the north side of the west transept leads to the pantheon of bishops.
Presbytery
The presbytery sits five steps above the rest of the cathedral. A baldachin designed by Italian-Colombian architect and priest Giovanni Buscaglione (1874-1941) stands 22 meters above the altar. It’s supported by four marble columns brought from Italy. The floor of the presbytery was designed by Buscaglione and made of Italian marble. It was placed there in 1931.
The altar was placed in the Metropolitan Cathedral in 1923 and 1924. It’s made of white Carrara marble and has a frame of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci carved in front. The altar is four meters long by 1.18 meters wide and 1 ½ meters high. It weighs 18 tons.
The episcopal seat was originally made of wood and replaced with the current seat in 1940. It was designed by Hermenegildo Bibolotti. It’s 5.4 meters high and 4.1 meters wide. The choir stalls behind the altar were designed by Buscaglione while the episcopal throne by Luis Eduardo Arenas. They were built between 1928 and 1932, mostly of black cedar and without any nails or screws. There are 32 chairs in the first row and 22 in the second row, divided only by the episcopal throne in the center.
Other Highlights
The stained glass windows were designed by Buscaglione and built in Spain. There are 76 in total and they arrived in Medellín in 1921. The organ was built in Germany by E. F. Walcker & Cie. in 1932 and installed by Oskar Binder (1911-1990) a year later. The pulpit was designed by Buscaglione and installed in 1930. The holy water fonts were built in Italy and placed in the cathedral in 1940. The Stations of the Cross were built in 1937 using marble and Venetian mosaics.
Finally, there’s a small museum on the northwest corner of the building that’s not open to the public. It contains about 40 paintings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and 15 sculptures from the 18th and 19th centuries.
