Qualla: Cartagena Cathedral

Cartagena Cathedral: Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fernando, CC BY-SA 4.0. Francis Drake's cannonball struck the column dead-on. The impact brought down two more columns and the arches they supported, collapsing a section of ceiling into rubble. It was 1586, and the Cathedral of Saint Catherine of Alexandria had been nearly finished after a decade of painstaking construction. Drake held the city for six weeks, demanding ransom, and when the Cartagenians finally paid 110,000 silver ducats, the English privateer sailed away with the money that had been earmarked to complete their church. The bishop, Friar Juan de Montalvo, died weeks later -- of grief, the chronicles say, at the demolition of his cathedral.

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Image: Fernando | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cartagena Cathedral: Three Churches, One Stubborn Faith

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0. The current cathedral is actually the third to stand in Cartagena. The first was barely a church at all -- a humble structure of thatched roof and reeds, built in 1535 just two years after the city's founding, promoted by the Dominican friar Tomas de Toro y Cabrero, the first bis...

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Image: Bernard Gagnon | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cartagena Cathedral: The Weight of Every Stone

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ventimiglia, Public domain. Construction began in earnest in 1577, and the decisions made during those early years still define the building today. When city councilors proposed rotating the cathedral's axis ninety degrees, Captain Sebastian Perez donated 200 pesos toward acquiring the necessary properties ...

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Image: Ventimiglia | Public domain

Cartagena Cathedral: Slow Resurrection

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Murcianboy, CC BY-SA 3.0. Repair came grudgingly. A master builder named Benito de Morales, passing through on his way to Quito, examined the damage and confirmed that the walls and foundations remained sound. He recommended finishing the building according to Gonzalez's original vision. But money was sca...

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Image: Murcianboy | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cartagena Cathedral: Marble, Time, and a French Architect

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tichnor Bros., Inc., Public domain. Later centuries brought refinement rather than rebuilding. Between 1778 and 1792, the prelate Fray Jose Diaz de Lamadrid installed a Carrara marble pulpit and marble pavement, along with the elegant arcades that sustain the central nave. The balconies, main portal, and cornices s...

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Image: Tichnor Bros., Inc. | Public domain

Cartagena Cathedral: An Unbroken Thread

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Murcianboy, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Cathedral of Cartagena remains the episcopal see of the Archbishop of Cartagena de Indias, one of the oldest in the Americas. Dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, it anchors the same neighborhood where Spanish colonial power once concentrated itself -- the civil headqu...

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Image: Murcianboy | CC BY-SA 3.0