Montevideo Metropolitan Cathedral

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral Montevideo is the main church of the Catholics and the Mother Church ( ' Iglesia Matriz " ) of the Archdiocese in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo.

The neoclassical building located in the center of the old town of Montevideo 's Plaza de la Constitución (also known as Plaza Matriz ), opposite the Cabildo on the street corner Sarandi / Ituzaingó. It was from 1790, when on 20 November, the foundation stone was laid, built and consecrated on October 21, 1804, although the work was not yet completed. It was created as a work of the Portuguese military engineer José Custodio de Sáa y Faría and José del Pozo y Marquys and the architect Tomás Toribio. 1860 and again a century later were held renovations to the facade. In 1870, the " Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepcion " was ( in German: Church of the Immaculate Conception) by Pope Pius IX. declared a basilica, eight years after it was given the status of a cathedral. With the establishment of the Archdiocese in Montediveo they eventually became the " Catedral Metropolitana y Primada ". In equipped with plenty of marble and frescoes inside the church building, with its high nave there is a built in 1753 derived font and also the final resting places of famous persons of Uruguayan history. These include, for example, the clergy Damaso Antonio Larrañaga, Jacinto Vera y Durán, the first Archbishop of Montevideo Mariano Soler and Cardinal Antonio María Barbieri, but also nationally important secular leader Juan Antonio Lavalleja, Venancio Flores, José Fructuoso Rivera and Joaquin Suarez.

Until the early decades of the 20th century, the cathedral was the townscape because tallest building in the city. Amended building codes they could lose this status. In 1975, the cathedral on the national historical monument ( " Monumento Histórico Nacional " ) was declared.