New Cathedral of Cuenca (Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción)
Brick cathedral on Cuenca's main square, crowned by three blue-tiled domes and open for terrace tours.
Work on the cathedral began in 1885 to plans by Juan Bautista Stiehle, a German Redemptorist brother working in Ecuador, after the older church across Parque Calderón proved too small for the city. The building is about 105 metres long and 43.5 metres wide, and mixes Romanesque arcading with Gothic and Renaissance detail in pink marble and local brick. Its twin front towers were left well below their intended height because the foundations could not carry the planned weight.
Three domes rise above the roof, covered in blue and white glazed tiles imported from central Europe; the central one stands about 53 metres high with a diameter of roughly twelve metres. Inside, the nave is lined with marble columns, and the high altar is finished in gold leaf. A spiral stair of more than 140 steps leads to a terrace beside the domes, from which visitors look over the tiled roofs of Cuenca's historic centre, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999.
Highlights
- Three domes faced in blue and white glazed tiles
- Terrace tour up a spiral stair of more than 140 steps
- Front towers left unfinished for structural reasons
- Stands on Parque Calderón in a UNESCO-listed historic centre
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