⛪ Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá

About This Sacred Site

The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá is an underground Roman Catholic church excavated from a halite (rock salt) mine 200 meters below the surface in Zipaquirá, north of Bogotá. The current cathedral, inaugurated in 1995 to replace an earlier chapel, features a nave capable of holding 8,400 people, with massive salt pillars, a salt cross illuminated by LED lights, and Stations of the Cross carved into the salt walls. The Muisca indigenous people originally mined salt here for centuries before Spanish colonization.

Key Facts

• •Located 200 meters underground within an active salt mine
• •The main nave can hold up to 8,400 people
• •The original salt chapel was built by miners in 1954; the current cathedral opened in 1995
• •The Muisca people mined salt at this site for centuries before Spanish contact
• •Voted Colombia's first wonder in a national poll and attracts more tourists than any other site in the country

Location

Coordinates: 5.0186, -73.9878