Religious Places, Mexico City

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The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary of Mexico City (Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de María) is the largest and oldest cathedral in the Americas. It is situated atop the former Aztec sacred precinct near the Templo Mayor on the northern side of the Plaza de la Constitución in downtown.
The cathedral was built in sections from 1573 to 1813 around the original church that was constructed soon after the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlán, drawing inspiration from Gothic cathedrals in Spain.
The cathedral has four facades which contain portals flanked with columns and statues.

You can watch my 3 min 25 sec HD Video Mexico City Metropolitan out of my Youtube channel.

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Our cathedral started being built in 1573 and 250 years passed before it was finished -- this is why the construction has different styles mixed. Templo Mayor is just a few steps away from it, and this is where the spaniards took a lot of material to build the cathedral with (!). Within the church you will find 16 chapels and 21 altars (the main one in the front is all golden). Also, its organ is gorgeous!!!

This is our Cathedral, in the heart of the town.... An interesting (and sad) info you might like to know about it is that it's sinking because of the irregular soil it is built on. Mexico City was settled where a lake used to be a few centuries ago, and therefore some of our buildings are sinking because the ground isn't firm.... sad, isn't it? :-( The Bellas Artes Palace has the same problem...

However, the Cathedral has been reinforced and refurbished and it looks really beautiful now, both in & outside... A very complicate and impressive underground work was done here to prevent the Cathedral from sinking yet more and it looks like they did a good job in repairing this great building which took 300 years to be built (and was finished about 2 centuries ago). The refurbishment works took about 10 years to be finished...

NEW!!! Now you can climb up the towers of the Cathedral and walk on the roof top... the view of the city isn't very good (but you may get lucky and see a bit of it on a clear day) but it's a cool experience. It costs $12 Mexican Pesos to go up (a bit more than a US Dollar) and they don't have fixed schedules to take people upstairs (a guide must take the whole group to make the tour), they rather wait to have a group of 6-8 people and then they let you go up.

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The cloak that Juan Diego wore hangs in the new basilica behind bullet proof glass. As you enter the Basilica and look in, you can see the cloak in front of you along with the big Mexican flag. What you dont see is that as you walk toward it and go off to the side you go down alittle and the is a walk way that goes back and forrth so that you can view the cloak up close.
You can take pictures and there is no cost for admission.

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One thing I love doing is visiting churches. Its too bad that they dont make them like this any more. First of all admission is free and you can take as many pictures as you like. In Peru and in Ecuador they didnt allow pictures and they charged admission to enter so this was nice.
The Catedral and the Palacio National dominate the Zocalo and you have to check it out.
The Catedral was constucted in 1567 and finished in1788. The altar is impressive made with gold leaf and there is a huge Organ thats near the middle of the Cathedral. There are 14 chapels within the Cathedral also.
Right next to the Cathedral is the Sagrario, which was built in the 1700's.
Although ad,ission is free and you can take all the pictures youd like, remember to be respectful because people do come here to worship.
And even if you are not religious you still might want to come visit the Catedral and admire its architecture, art, and history.

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We came here after amorning in the ruines of Teotihuacan. First of all there are two Basilicas. One is the original Basilica and the other is the new one. There are also a fewother churches in the area. Even if you are not Catholic you should pay a visit to the Basilica. We parked in the down stairs garage area and then went into the shops that are located right there to purchase some religious items so that the priest can bless them. I purchased a beautiful crucifix and a rosary that smells like roses. It is interesting to know that church is everyday here starting at 6am at the last service is at 9pm. They have service almost every hour. We went to the gardens right next to the Basilica which are so beautiful and very well maintained. You can see the two waterfalls there that celebrate the union or joining of two cultures. Also if you go all the way up the hill past more gardens you will get to the exact place where the Virgen Mary appeared to Juan Diego.
To me, it was all very fascinating. At the top of the hill there is a church which depicts the whole story of Juan Diego and the Virgen Mary on Frescos.

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The Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe is the most important religious site in Mexico. Seeped in history, today it is home to a cloak on which the image of the virgin "mysteriously appeared" (guide's words, not mine) and a whole collection of churches that can surely fulfill all of your salvation (and photographic) needs. The church that actually houses the cloak is a huge, modern building constructed in 1976. On the lower level, moving sidewalks whisk you past the cloak from below as services go on above. There are a variety of other churches and chapels on the site, and on a clear day the view from the church at the top of the hill is fantastic. The grounds of the site are landscaped beautifully, and off to one side and ground level there is a cool market full of souvenirs and food.

My recent visit to the Basilica happened to coincide with the "graduation" ceremony for new priests. The new basilica was absolutely packed with people waving flags and the normal ban on balloons seemed to have been lifted for the occasion. First the young priests came out as their friends and families cheered, then the cardinal came out, blessed the crowd and gave a speech. My mom found it moving; I found it interesting. Either way, we all agreed we were lukcy to have seen the event.

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The tradition of La Villa de Guadalupe (commonly known as "la Villa"), involves a miracle and an Indian saint: manifested in the apocalyptic fashion of the Virgin emblazoned in rough cloth, brought to the attention of XVI century Indians living their own end of the world, the image then fascinated Creoles, who multiplied it until it became a national phenomena in the XIX century. It was the Indian Juan Diego whose vision of Virgin Mary in 1531 started a saga of stories that aided the conversion of millions of Indians to Catholicism and became a symbol of Mexican people around the world.

The Basílica, located in the North side of the Americas Square there is a church that used to house the image of the Virgin, from the beginning of the XVII century until 1976, when the new Basilica was built following the design of architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez. The former building, in contrast, has the features of Pedro de Arrieta's style: Baroque forms and refined ornaments that include volcanic red stone and colored tiles on the domes and bell towers.

Photos:
1- the image of the virgin (from the miracle).
2- The church that house the image of the virgin until 1976
3- Me and my son in front of the new "Basilica de guadalupe" the church that houses the image of the virgin today.
4- the image of the virgin (from the miracle) in the cloth over the Mexican flag.