Cathedral of San Miguel de Tucuman

The magnificent Cathedral of the Argentine city of San Miguel de Tucuman was founded in the 16th century. For many years, it was the main shrine of the archbishopric.

It is hard to imagine that this expressive and beautiful cathedral previously was a very modest structure, built of adobe with a tiled, gabled roof.

The old cathedral looked like a typical shrine, built in the style of colonial Baroque architecture.

When people decided to completely rebuild it in the 19th century, they asked the architect Pierre Escherri to do it. He gave the cathedral the current look. By the way, Pierre Escherri, despite his French origin, stayed in Argentina after the construction of this temple. Catedral de San Miguel de Tucuman is located on Independence Square, earlier known as Plaza Mayor.

The structure was built in the shape of a Latin cross. It corresponds to a certain tradition and is decorated with two high towers. The dome has 8 windows. The upper part of the dome is adorned with mosaics colored as the Argentine flag.

After the cathedral was rebuilt, its architectural look combined several styles. These were neoclassicism, renaissance, and baroque. Above, there is a marble bas-relief depicting the Exodus of Jews from Egypt, made by the sculptor Juan Batista Finocharo. The frontispiece has a white marble statue of the Virgin Mary. The wooden sculpture of the crucifixion of Christ is also very interesting. It is located on the left side of the vestibule and loved by parishioners.

Several columns support the high vault of the cathedral. As well as lighting, they make the interior larger. Among other relics, there are two ancient images of St. Jude and St. Simon, patrons of Tucuman.

Inside, you can find tombs of famous people.