Metropolitan Cathedral
from San Salvador
History
FIRST CATHEDRAL OF SAN SALVADOR
On September 28, 1842, Pope Gregory XVI with the Bull "Universalis Ecclesia Procuratio” instituted the Diocese of the Territory of the State of El Salvador and consequently elevated its parish to the rank of cathedral, then known as El Sagrario Parish, and was located right on the spot where the church of El Rosario is located today.
Presbytery and Doctor Don José Jorge Viteri Ungo was the first bishop canonically appointed by the Pope for San Salvador, a diocese that covered the entire territory of El Salvador.
When the April 1854 earthquake caused great losses to the city and completely destroyed the young cathedral, the capital city was moved to Cojutepeque, where the Supreme Government of the Republic and the Ecclesiastical Government of the Catholic Church resided for a relatively short time. At this time, the Bishop of the Diocese was Monsignor Pineda y Saldaña, who declared the San Sebastián temple the provisional seat of the Cathedral.
Another earthquake, on March 19, 1873, once again destroyed the city of San Salvador, reducing its Cathedral to rubble. This time, the ecclesiastical government moved to New San Salvador and declared the Church of La Concepción the interim Cathedral. A year before this event, on January 6, 1872, a project had been drawn up to build a new Cathedral in San Salvador; however, it was not executed due to a war that had broken out against Honduras.
SECOND CATHEDRAL OF SAN SALVADOR
On September 28, 1877, Bishop Cárcamo Rodríguez issued a pastoral letter urging the Salvadoran people to collaborate in the construction of a new cathedral. This bishop decided to build the new cathedral where the majestic convent and temple of Santo Domingo had previously stood, the current site of the Metropolitan Cathedral. To this end, he issued a detailed and precise edict on September 17, 1880. The driving force behind this project was Monsignor Miguel Vencchioti, and the architect, Don J. Dolores Melara, the engineer.
In 1888, the second building of the San Salvador Cathedral was inaugurated, built in the Romanesque style, across from what is now Barrios Park. Constructed of fine woods, some imported from Lebanon, it was characterized by lines of fine religious taste. It also featured beautiful images and ornamentation, as well as altarpieces painted by Salvadoran artists.
Built of wood to give it greater flexibility against earthquakes, it was the victim of a voracious fire on August 8, 1951.
On August 15 of the same year, Archbishop Luis Chávez González issued a pastoral letter on the construction of the new cathedral and appointed Bishop José T. Alférez as the person in charge of supervising the works, a position he held until 1964, when he was replaced by Bishop Modesto López Portillo.
To complete the Cathedral, a foundation was created that approved the Master Plan drawn up by Architect Joaquín González Miranda, from Pamplona, Spain, with the collaboration of Professor Architect Joaquín Loras.
THIRD CATHEDRAL OF SAN SALVADOR
The third building of the Cathedral of San Salvador is a project developed in the 1950s, clearly inspired by the Basilica-style churches of the renowned German architect Domenicus Böhm.
The blessing of the first stone was carried out by Monsignor Luis Chávez y González on Friday, October 12, 1956.
Due to the war that ravaged the country during the 1970s and 1980s, construction of the Cathedral was halted. However, progress was slow.
It was up to Monsignor Arturo Rivera Damas to give it a final push to have the structure finished, but it was none other than Monsignor Fernando Sáenz Lacalle who put the finishing touch by giving the new building its interior and exterior ornamentation, in accordance with the "ars sacra" - appropriate sacred art.
At the initiative of Bishop Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, the work was completed, and he has dedicated much effort and encouragement to the continuation of the work that is still underway.
The Cathedral is presented in a Romanesque style, with a single nave crossed by two other side naves forming a rectangular cross, culminating in a circular presbytery.
The incomplete set of arches in the presbytery arose from the idea of designing a large altarpiece, integrating it into the rhythm of the arcade, which in this way also reintegrates into the altarpiece.