Santiago Cathedral

The white façade you see facing Central Park is only the entrance to what was once one of the largest cathedrals in the Americas. What is now called the Parish of San José occupies just the front section. Behind it, open to the sky, lie the ruins of the rest.

The first cathedral was raised in 1545, shortly after the city was founded. The one consecrated in 1680, after eleven years of work, was huge: five naves, eighteen chapels and a succession of domes visible from all over the city. Here the spiritual kingdom of Central America was crowned, buried and governed.

Beneath its floor rested key figures of the conquest. The remains of Pedro de Alvarado, conqueror of Guatemala, were moved here in 1568. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the soldier who wrote the history of the conquest of Mexico, was buried here too, as was Francisco Marroquín, the first bishop.

The earthquakes of 1717 and 1751 damaged it. The Santa Marta earthquakes of 29 July 1773 brought it down. Three years later the Crown ordered the capital moved to the Ermita valley, where Guatemala City stands today. The cathedral lay abandoned for a century.

Step into the ruins and look up. The pillars that once held the domes are still there, and from the ground you can imagine the height of the naves. In the crypt below the main altar, remains of the tombs are still preserved.

In the 3D view you can switch between today's ruins and the cathedral as it looked around 1700, with its towers and domes complete. In augmented reality, place it on the ground in front of you at reduced scale.