Cathedral Basilica of Santa Marta

Introduction

The Santa Marta Cathedral (Basilica of Santa Marta, formally Catedral Basílica Menor de Santa Marta) stands on Plaza de la Catedral in the historic centre of the Caribbean port of Santa Marta—the present cathedral of one of South America's earliest dioceses (approved by Charles V in 1529). Santa Marta itself, founded by Rodrigo de Bastidas in 1525, is among the oldest colonial cities on the continent. The existing white church is not the original colonial chapel: it was founded on 8 December 1766 at the initiative of Bishop Nicolás Gil Martínez Malo and Governor Andrés Pérez, designed by architect Juan Cayetano Chacón and engineered by Antonio Marchante, completed in 1786, and raised to a Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1930. The façade is a Renaissance-Neoclassical compromise with a left rectangular bell tower and a rear central dome; heavy square columns support a three-aisled basilica nave that casts dappled shadow in the tropical sun. Two poignant histories of 'resting' define the church: the tomb of the city's founder Rodrigo de Bastidas, reinterred here from the Dominican Republic in 1953; and the remains of Liberator Simón Bolívar, who died in 1830 and lay in the crypt here until 1842, when they were moved to Caracas. Free and open to the public today, the cathedral is quietly kept, with bilingual plaques around the plaza—an ideal starting point for Santa Marta's old town and its colonial and independence story. From the church, a short walk through the old town's colourful Caribbean-colonial streets reaches the Tairona Gold Museum and the seafront promenade, where the white façade stands out sharply in the afternoon sea breeze.

✨ Highlights

🛈 Practical Info