Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Review

On the east side of the park stands the impressive Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción), built between 1797 and 1804 to replace an adobe temple dating from the early 1700s. The flat-fronted, whitewashed church has thick stone walls, small windows, and squat buttresses, which have kept it intact through two centuries of quakes and tremors. The serene, white interior has two rows of stately, gold-trimmed Ionic columns marching down a long aisle, past lovely stained-glass windows. The church is flanked by tidy side gardens, where you can stroll among sculpted trees along concrete paths incised with a floral pattern. Daily masses are held at 6 am and 6 pm.