This summer, I am going to Brazil and Colombia on a study abroad program with Penn State.  In class, we were talking about some of the things that we planned on doing when my professor mentioned an underground cathedral in Colombia built into an old salt mine.  I got a little too excited and decided to do some research on the mine.

Located in Colombia about fifty kilometers (about 30 miles) north of Bogota lays the city of Zapaquirá.  Originally known as Chicaquicha by the indigenous people, which means “Foot of the Zipa” (Zipa was the chief of the tribe) , Zaqapuirá was renamed and founded by the Spanish conquistadors on July 18, 1600.  This city became and has remained famous for its salt mines, which are so extensive that the city is often known as the salt capital of Colombia.  For hundreds of years, the city’s sole trading commodity was salt, however because of the high  demand for salt (typically to preserve food) the townspeople were able to live prosperous lives and trade salt for just about anything they could want.  Zaquauirá has been famous for its salt trade and salt mines, however today, ones of these mines has been converted into a Catholic Cathedral.

The salt cathedral was first built in 1954 in an abandoned part of the mine, however it was closed in 1990 due to structural and safety concerns.  The new church was built between 1991 and 1996 about 200 feet below the original.  More than 100 miners worked for four years to construct the mine.  Not only is the cathedral itself carved from the salt deposits, but also all the statues and the 16 foot tall cross behind the alter were also carved from the salt.  The cathedral consists of a network of rooms and tunnels, however just the cathedral itself is 75 meters long, 18 meters tall, and has an outstanding capacity of 8400 people!

The cathedral is a fairly popular tourist attraction, for both foreigners and Colombia citizens.  The salt cathedral is the only one of its kind in the entire world, and is such a point of pride for Colombians that in 2007, it was voted by popular demand to be Colombia’s number one wonder.  It was even nominated to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.  The attraction consists not only of the cathedral, but also boasts a salt climbing wall and more recently a 3D movie called “Guasa Tesoro” and a museum about the mine.

All year, I’ve been researching cool, hidden places around the globe.  And the cool part is, a lot of the time these places revealed themselves in every day life, and I was just paying attention enough to snag the idea for my blog.  Although you can learn a lot about a place thanks to the internet, I’m extremely excited to be able to finally visit one and experience it for myself!

Oh also, remember the Pink Lakes on an island by Australia?  One of the boys on my THON committee is studying abroad this semester in New Zealand and uploaded this photo.  Not exactly pink lakes, but still kind of close enough that I thought I’d share.