|The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Mary
Catedral Metropolitana de la Inmaculada Concepción de María
The Managua Cathedral's principal entrance seen in the left side.
|Website||Managua Cathedral Website|
|Founder(s)||Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo S.D.B.|
|Dedication||Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary|
|Consecrated||September 4, 1993|
|Past bishop(s)||Miguel Obando y Bravo S.D.B. (1993-2005)|
|Style||Eclectic, Romanesque and Arabic|
|Completed||August, 1993 (present Cathedral)|
|Construction cost||USD 4.5 Million|
|Number of domes||63|
|Archdiocese||Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Managua|
|Province||Ecclesiastical Province of Nicaragua|
|Archbishop||Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes|
|Rector||Pbro. Julio de los Santos Dávila|
Pbro. Rodolfo José López SalazarPbro. Carlos Handall
The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (Spanish: Catedral Metropolitana de la Inmaculada Concepción de María), referred to as the New Cathedral (La Nueva Catedral), is located in Managua, Nicaragua. It was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of Maria.
Construction began in 1991 in substitution of the Old Cathedral of Managua or Cathedral of Santiago. The old cathedral was damaged and thought to be unrestoreable after a 1972 earthquake that destroyed 90% of the city.
The cathedral was designed by the Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta. Construction to build the cathedral began around August 1991 and it was inaugurated on September 4, 1993. The cost of the newly built cathedral was estimated at $4.5 million. The new cathedral has created much controversy, particularly about its architectural style and finance. The costs were covered partially thanks to the help of American Tom Monaghan, owner of Domino's Pizza. Locals refer to it as La Chichona on account of the plethora of cupolas adorning it like so many "chiches" (Spanish: slang for breasts).
- "Deadly history of earthquakes: 23 December 1972". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- "Catedral Managua: Historia" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- "Nicaragua Briefs: Obando's New Cathedral Off to a Strange Start". Envío. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
- "DOMINO'S FOUNDATION Membership, Structure, Finances As a private foundation, Domino's Foun". Skepticfiles.org. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
- Curiamanagua.org (Spanish)