After the conquest of Tenochtitlan in 1521, Hernán Cortés ordered that a church be built over the former Aztec ceremonial centre. Since then, this church-cathedral has borne witness to the history of Mexico: colonisation, christianisation and independence (1821).
The cathedral took 240 years to build, from 1573 to 1813. This is the reason for its different architectural and decorative styles: Herrerian, gothic, renaissance, neoclassical and baroque.
The characteristics of the subsoil on which it was built (the city is located over a lake) meant that the construction work was very laborious and there is a difference in height that even today is still being corrected.
The choir stalls are the part of the temple where the members of the clergy meet to sing the divine office. The choir stalls in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico are laid out according to the model of the Spanish cathedrals, in the middle of the central nave, between the main door and the main altar.
Designed under the guidance of the artist Juan de Rojas between 1696 and 1697, it was engulfed by fire in 1967, leading to serious damage to the paintings on the frontispiece, the high choirstalls, the organs and the lectern.
The sacristy is the place where the priests get dressed and where the objects for the services are kept. Between 1625 and 1641, the sacristy in the Mexican cathedral was used as a provisional cathedral while the definitive one was under construction.
The sacristy is entirely dedicated to the Virgin Mary in its artistic representations. Both the doors and the six pictorial works in its interior (by Cristóbal de Vallalpando and Juan Corra) present concepts linked to the exaltation of Mary.
According to the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, a chapel is "a building adjoining a church or which forms an integral part of the latter, with an altar and a particular advocation".
There are fourteen chapels in the Mexican cathedral, seven facing eastwards and seven facing westwards. They were created by certain brotherhoods, guilds or by private donors, in order to venerate certain saints and the Virgin. They equipped the chapels with decorative elements and took charge of their maintenance.
The Cathedral towers are approximately 62 metres high and the roofs are bell-shaped.
It is said that the first bell of the cathedral was forged from a cannon that Hernán Cortés donated for this purpose and that eight bells from the belfry of the old church, demolished in 1626, are still in use. Over time, new bells were forged and there are now 34 in total.
The names and history of some are known. Others are anonymous and their origins have been lost over time.
The sinking of Mexico City and thus the cathedral is a unique problem that is due to the nature of its soil, as it was built over a lake. This led to serious problems when the cathedral was being built, as it leaned during construction.
This unique problem has been solved with a unique solution, which has served as inspiration for other buildings like the Tower of Pisa.
The National Council for Culture and the Arts (CONACULTA) and other institutions such as the faculties of Engineering and Architecture in Mexico University are involved in the programme to restore the metropolitan cathedral in Mexico City.
