The Cathedral of Buenos Aires

The Catedral Metropolitana de Buenos Aires is the principal Catholic church in the capital city of Argentina. Although construction began around 1580, the church underwent a long building process, with expansions and repairs occurring over the next three-hundred years. It was built by the Spanish colonial government in the main town square, today called the Plaza de mayo. The current structure has its roots in the late-nineteenth century. Because of the perpetually unfinished state of the cathedral, a nearby chapel at the Colegio de San Carlos became the unofficial principal institution. The history of this structure reflects the state of colonial rule in this part of the Spanish empire. Until the Crown began investing in trade routes through the Rio de la Plata region in the 1770s, this area was a sparsely populated region with a small, weak government.