Salt Cathedral

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The Salt Cathedral at Zipaquirá (Spanish: Catedral de Sal) is an underground Church built in a tunnel of salt mines 200 mts inside a salt mountain near the town of Zipaquirá, in Cundinamarca, Colombia.

Curving and twisting tunnels descend into the Roman Catholic temple, passing 14 small chapels representing the stations of the cross, which illustrate the events of Jesus' last journey. Each station has a cross and several kneeing platforms carved into the salt structure. The temple at the bottom has three sections, representing the birth, life, and death of Jesus.

There is also an underground Salt Cathedral in The Wielizka Salt Mine, near Kraków in Poland.

[edit] Geological Formation

Salt deposits in Zipaquirá were formed 200 million years ago, and were raised above sea level during the late Tertiary period, when the Andes were formed.

The mines were exploited by the Muisca culture in the eras before the Spanish came to the Americas.

[edit] History of the Cathedral

Years before the first Cathedral was built, miners had carved a sanctuary.

In 1950 the construction of a bigger project was begun: the Salt Cathedral which was inaugurated in 1954. However, as the cathedral was caved inside an active mine, structural problems and safety concerns led the authorities to shut down the sanctuary in 1990.

In 1991 the construction of a new Cathedral was undertaken, 200 feet under the older one. This new Cathedral was inaugurated in 1995.

[edit] External links

• (Spanish) Catedral de Sal de Zipaquirá, Official site of the Salt Cathedral.