CATHEDRAL CHURCH IN CHIHUAHUA

The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of the Holy Cross, Our Lady of Regla, and St Francis of Assisi is the main ecclesiastical building of the Catholic Church in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico. It is considered perhaps the finest example of colonial architecture in northern Mexico and dates from 1725. The cathedral is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chihuahua. As of 2013 the archbishop was Constancio Miranda Weckmann. Originally, Sergeant-Major Don Juan Antonio Trasviña y Retes, one of the leading Spanish citizens of the village, donated the land for the first church in the villa, where the cathedral would later stand. The first stone was placed on 21 June 1725 by the Bishop of Nueva Vizcaya in Durango, Don Benito Crespo y Monroy (in those times, Chihuahua depended religiously upon, and was a part of, the Diocese of Durango.) The church was paid for with local commercial donations and by mine owners in the city and in Santa Eulalia, a pueblo to the east, and also by a tax of one real on each mark of silver that was mined in the province. The first superintendent of construction was Pedro Coronado, followed by Miguel de la Sierra and then Master Architect José de la Cruz, who finalised the plans, and was buried in the church upon his death in 1734. Others followed until Architect Bernardo del Carpio began the construction of the towers in 1758. The bells had been cast in 1730, and were placed in the newly completed towers in 1780, directed by Superintendent Melchor Guaspe. Construction of the church was completed in 1826. The building was slightly damaged during the French intervention in Mexico, repaired, and was designated a cathedral on 23 June 1891, with the erection of the Chihuahua diocese from the Diocese of Durango. At that time, the new diocese was responsible for the faithful throughout the entire state. Chihuahua was elevated to the status of an archdiocese on 22 November 1958 and now is the metropolitan archdiocese for five suffragan dioceses in the state of Chihuahua. In 1910, with the commemoration of the Century of the Independence of Mexico, the cathedral was decorated with lights. It wasn't until 2005 when the cathedral was illuminated again, this time permanently. In October 2008 celebrating the upcoming Tricentennary of the city of Chihuahua, a lights display show took place at the Cathedral.