Mexico City – Metropolitan Cathedral

Mexico City’s main cathedral was built on top of the ruins of the Aztec temple. It was also built using stones from the Aztec Temple. It’s very large, but it be honest, I can’t imagine it’s anywhere as impressive as the original building.

The Aztecs are having the last laugh, though. The cathedral is built on top of the Aztec ruins, but the Spanish did not do a very good job of building foundations. As a result, the entire cathedral is slowly sinking into the muddy earth. Huge efforts have gone in to stop the cathedral collapsing, but it’s still very wonky.

As I walked around the cathedral, I started to feel a bit dizzy. It wasn’t because I was having a religious moment, it was due to the slopes. The walls are not straight, the floor is uneven and everything seems to slope in one direction or another. This is very disorientating. You can’t be sure if the walls are leaning or you’re leaning. Very odd.

The object that is venerated most in the cathedral is a statue of a black Jesus. The story goes, that the statue was originally white. A priest was poisoned one day and he kissed the feet of the statue. Miraculously, the priest was cured and the poison was sucked out of the priest and turned the statue black. It’s regarded as a miracle, but I want to know who was wandering around poisoning priests!

I must admit, that I’m a bit underwhelmed by all the cathedrals in Mexico. They’re built to try and emulate the grand Spanish cathedrals, but they don’t seem to be able to get it right. They just seem like big empty stark buildings, rather than the magnificent buildings of Europe. That’s not to say the buildings are ugly, but they’re just not as nice.