Catedral de Sal

Catedral de Sal means Salt Cathedral. So what is the Salt Cathedral? It is a cathedral built in a salt mine. Very cool! Alissa and I have never been in a mine before, yet alone a salt mine, yet alone a cathedral in a mine of salt. It is very interesting. I would compare the feeling to being in some of the smaller parts of the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Although caverns are natural and mines are human-made. Speaking of human-made. The Salt Cathedral was built by 141 men (miners) over 4 years. We consider these men miners and artists. Their work is amazing! The Salt Cathedral is located about 45 minutes north of Bogota in a town called Zipaquira. I will write about this town in another post. Zipaquira is noted for its salt mines, which are located in the mountain west of the town. The mines date back hundreds of years and is/was a great resource for the community. The salt is referred to as white gold, because it was a valuable resource for keeping food fresh before electricity and refrigeration. Much salt was even traded for gold in the past. Salt is also valuable to Alissa and I. A gal from Minnesota and a guy from Buffalo value salt in the winter times for the roads. I also like salt on my food, especially in Colombia. The food is delicious, but can be bland at times. We will discuss more about the food in another post. So back to the Salt Cathedral. The cathedral was carved out of a mountain and opened in 1954. It was closed in 1992 for safety reasons, but a new cathedral was carved 60m below the old one and opened to visitors in 1995. It is 75m long and 18m high and can accommodate 8400 people. The pictures below do not do it justice.


We hired Jorge to drive us to the Salt Cathedral and provide us with a tour in English. We stopped in a cute little town called Cajica along the way and stopped for lunch in Zipaquira on the way home. We captured many pictures in both towns and will provide them on the blog soon.

The mountains are rich in salt.  This area 65 million years ago was an ocean.

A beautiful 20' sculpture stands at the entrance of the mine.

Jorge provided us with a personal tour.

There was also a nice plaza located at the mine.

The entrance to the mine.

Safety equipment is available.  Yes, there are earthquakes.  No, one did not happen while we were in the mine.

The tunnel to the mine contain steel beams that corrode from the salt over time.

See water dripping from the salt.  There also must me some metal underneath that is oxidizing to create the rust color.

No, this is not an M.C. Escher drawing.  Many stairs are carved into the mine.  

There are many beautiful chambers to the cathedral.

The smaller sanctuary.

Walking through the cathedral.

Beautiful sculptures.

Close-ups of the sculptures.

Matt, Alissa, and salt.

It is impossible to pull the salt from the wall.

One of many chambers.

See the tiny people in the distance.

The main sanctuary.

The largest underground dome in the world.