Подземная соляная церковь Колумбии Сипакира

Underground Roman Catholic church in Colombia

The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá (lang es) is an underground Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine underground in a halite mountain near the city of Zipaquirá, in Cundinamarca, Colombia. It is a tourist destination and place of pilgrimage in the country. The temple at the bottom has three sections, representing the birth, life, and death of Jesus. The icons, ornaments and architectural details are hand carved in the halite rock. Some marble sculptures are included. The cathedral is considered one of the most notable achievements of Colombian architecture, being described as a "Jewel of Modern Architecture". The cathedral represents a valuable cultural, environmental and religious patrimony for the Colombian people. The cathedral is a functioning church that receives as many as 3,000 visitors on Sundays, but it has no bishop and therefore no official status as a cathedral in Catholicism.

Salt deposits in Zipaquirá were formed around 250 million years ago, and were raised above sea level during the late Tertiary period, when the Andes were formed.

The complex is located in Zipaquirá, in Cundinamarca Department, north of Bogota, at altitude. National highway 45A connects Bogotá and Zipaquirá, as does the Tren Turistico De La Sabana (Savanna tourist train). The city is recognized, not only for the cathedral, but for being near one of the oldest human settlements in the Americas, El Abra archaeological site.

The halite mines were exploited already by the pre Columbian Muisca culture since the 5th century BC. being one of their most important economic activities. The traditional halite mining was described by Alexander von Humboldt during his visit to Zipaquira in 1801. He depicts this deposit as bigger than the main halite mines of the time, such as those in Spain, Switzerland, Poland and the County of Tyrol with a calculated resource estimation of one million cubic meters. Von Humboldt also criticized the excavation techniques as being unpractical for future exploitation, recommending drift mining instead, since the halite tunnels don't require beams, lowering the costs. The building had 120 m  length, 5.500 m2 surface and 22 m  height. It had six main columns, and a maximum capacity of 8000 people. The main nave included the monumental cross, which was illuminated from the base up, projecting a large cross shaped shadow in the ceiling. The right nave included the Stations of the Cross icons and the Rosary chapel, with the Virgin of Rosary Icon (sculpted by Daniel Rodriguez Moreno and later transported to the new cathedral). The left nave included the icons of the birth of Jesus and the baptism of Jesus, with a waterfall symbolising the Jordan River.