Cathedral of Guatemala City

Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint James Catedral Primada Metropolitana de Santiago de Guatemala
Guatemala City Cathedral
Basic information
Location	Guatemala City, Guatemala
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Country	Guatemala
Year consecrated	25 March 1815
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Cathedral
Status	Active
Architectural description
Architectural type	Church
Architectural style	Neoclassic
Groundbreaking	1782
Completed	1871
Specifications
Direction of façade	West
Dome(s)	1
Materials	Stone

The Cathedral of Guatemala City, also Metropolitan Cathedral, officially Catedral Primada Metropolitana de Santiago, is the main church of Guatemala City and of the Archdiocese of Guatemala (Archidioecesis Guatimalensis). It is located at the Parque Central in the center of the city. Its massive structure incorporates baroque and classical elements and has withstood numerous earthquakes. Damage by the devastating earthquakes of 1917 and 1976 has been repaired. The inside of the cathedral is relatively sparsely decorated but impresses by its size and its structural strength. The altars are ornate and decorative. In front of the cathedral stand a series of 12 pillars, solemnly remembering the names of thousands of people forcibly disappeared or murdered during the counterinsurgency violence of Guatemala's internal armed conflict, which began in 1960 and lasted until the final peace accord was signed in 1996.

On 28 October 2003, Pope John Paul II authorized the Canonical coronation of the Immaculate Conception enshrined within the Cathedral which occurred on 5 December 2004. The papal bull was signed and executed by Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Cult and Discipline of Sacraments.

After the Santa Marta Earthquakes of 1773 that destroyed Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, there was a large argument between Spanish and clerical authorities on whether to move the city to a new location . Against strong opposition of archbishop Pedro Cortés y Larraz, Captain General Martin de Mayorga decided to impose the move to its new location in the Ermita Valley; Cortés y Larraz was afraid that with the move the church had to begin from scratch and would lose part, if not all, of its power and influence. The cathedral moved to the new capital on 22 November 1779, but all the interior ornaments that had not been destroyed by the earthquake in the old building remained behind in what was now called Antigua Guatemala; in 1783 they were taken away from the frail ruins and stored in the old Universidad de San Carlos Borromeo building and in the El Sagrario Parish warehouse, which was also open the public in a section of the old cathedral.