On Tuesday, May 29, we rode for about an hour from Bogotá to the town of Zipaquirá. The town is primarily known for the Catedral de Sal (Salt Cathedral), an underground church built within the tunnels of a salt mine. The town itself is quite nice, but the cathedral was our main reason for visiting Zipaquirá so, that is were we started our day. Entrance was 86,550 COP (~38 CAD) for the both of us and included a tour of the mine (with lessons on the tools and the trade) and entry to the archaeological museum.
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- Ready to explore!
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- Through the tunnels
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- And more tunnels
Dramatic lighting for this chapel
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- Another chapel
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- Monkeying around
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- An angel over the stairs
In 1932, miners had carved a sanctuary for their daily prayers before starting work. It was in 1950 that construction of the original cathedral began and in 1954 that it was inaugurated. Because the cathedral was carved inside an active mine, it was shut down in 1992 due to safety concerns. In 1991, a new cathedral was constructed 200 feet beneath the original one and it was inaugurated at the end of 1995.
The birth of Christ
The Salt Cathedral is considered a notable achievement in Colombian architecture and it is easy to see why. With the chapels carved along the tunnels, coloured lighting, and marble sculptures, it is one of the most impressive cathedrals we have seen.
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- Chandeliers in the tunnel
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- Main area of the cathedral
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- The altar
Made it through the narrow passage… and more monkeying around
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- Creation of Adam
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- Giant cross
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- Twin crosses
After making our way through the cathedral, we killed some time window-shopping at the gift shop (that is also underground) while waiting for the mine tour to start.
Exit to the gift shop so you can buy things you don’t need
We got geared up with some protective headgear before proceeding into the mines. The tour guide gave us a bit of a background on the mines and mining, and demonstrated how to mine before letting the group try their hands at some physical labour. It really put into perspective just how much effort went into shaping the cathedral as it is today.
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- Gearing up
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- Heigh-ho, heigh-ho!
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- Sparkly salt
Lunch with this view? Yes, please!
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- Zipaquirá
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- Main plaza
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- Ready to window-shop!
After the tour, we had a quick lunch at one of the eateries outside before proceeding into town. We intended to visit the museum, but seeing how nice Zipaquirá seemed to be, we decided to skip the museum and explore the town for the rest of the afternoon instead. We ended our day with some coffee and no regrets.
