Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral — Attraction in Mexico City

The cathedral has four façades which contain portals flanked with columns and statues. The two bell towers contain a total of 25 bells. The tabernacle, adjacent to the cathedral, contains the baptistery and serves to register the parishioners. There are two large, ornate altars, a sacristy, and a choir in the cathedral. Fourteen of the cathedral's sixteen chapelsare open to the public. Each chapel is dedicated to a different saint or saints, and each was sponsored by a religious guild. The chapels contain ornate altars, altarpieces, retablos, paintings, furniture and sculptures. The cathedral is home to two of the largest 18th-century organs in the Americas. There is a crypt underneath the cathedral that holds the remains of many former archbishops.

Over the centuries, the cathedral has suffered damage. A fire in 1967 destroyed a significant part of the cathedral's interior. The restoration work that followed uncovered a number of important documents and artwork that had previously been hidden. Although a solid foundation was built for the cathedral,the soft clay soil it is built on has been a threat to its structural integrity. Dropping water tablesand accelerated sinking caused the structure to be added to the World Monuments Fundlist of the 100 Most Endangered Sites. Reconstruction work beginning in the 1990s stabilized the cathedral and it was removed from the endangered...

The Metropolitan Cathedral, a monumental presence in Mexico City's Zócalo, is a breathtaking testament to centuries of architectural evolution and artistic devotion. Its façade alone is a symphony of styles, a living chronicle etched in stone, spanning from the restrained austerity of its early Renaissance foundations to the exuberant flourish of its Baroque and Neoclassical embellishments. Twin bell towers pierce the sky, their intricate carvings and statuary reaching towards the heavens, while the central dome, a masterful feat of engineering, crowns the edifice with majestic grace. Within, the grandeur continues. Soaring vaulted ceilings draw the eye upward, supported by massive columns that create a sense of profound scale. Sunlight, filtered through stained-glass windows, casts a kaleidoscope of colors across polished floors and gilded altarpieces, illuminating the rich tapestry of religious art. Every chapel, every corner, reveals meticulous craftsmanship: elaborate Churrigueresque retablos shimmering with gold leaf, delicate Rococo details whispering tales of devotion, and solemn Neoclassical forms exuding an air of dignified reverence. The sheer ambition, the fusion of diverse aesthetics, and the enduring quality of its construction make the Metropolitan Cathedral a truly awe-inspiring marvel of human ingenuity and...

Walk into the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral and it doesn’t just sit beside the Zócalo—it commands the square. Rising from the sacred precinct of Aztec Tenochtitlan, it’s literally built atop the ruins of pyramids, a collision of civilizations written in stone. That layered history gives the building a presence unlike any other in the city.

Construction began in 1573 under Spanish architect Claudio de Arciniega, who blended Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements into one immense vision. Over the centuries, other masters such as José Damián Ortiz de Castro added to the design, shaping the towers and the facade into enduring landmarks of late-colonial Mexico. The end result is a cathedral that reads like an architectural anthology of four centuries.

Inside, the experience is breathtaking. The Altar of the Kings towers in gleaming Baroque extravagance, soaring nearly 80 feet and gilded with Churrigueresque detail. Light filters through stained glass and falls across chapels, sculptures, and two monumental pipe organs that seem built to carry centuries of sound. Every corner tells its own story.

You don’t need to be religious to be moved here. It is as much history museum as house of worship, a place to pause, reflect, and simply look up in awe. A must-see in...