page_title: Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá
section_title: Salt Park
hierarchical_section_title: Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá / Salt Park
caption_attribution_description: English: The Holy Family
context_page_description: The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá is an underground Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine 200 metres underground in a halite mountain near the city of Zipaquirá, design by Mexican architect Carlos Mijares, in Cundinamarca, Colombia. It is a tourist destination and place of pilgrimage in the country. The temple at the bottom has three sections, representing the birth, life, and death of Jesus. The icons, ornaments and architectural details are hand carved in the halite rock. Some marble sculptures are included. The cathedral is considered one of the most notable achievements of Colombian architecture, being described as a "Jewel of Modern Architecture". The cathedral represents a valuable cultural, environmental and religious patrimony for the Colombian people.
  The cathedral is a functioning church that receives as many as 3,000 visitors on Sundays, but it has no bishop and therefore no official status as a cathedral in Catholicism.
context_section_description: The cathedral is within a larger complex, Parque de la Sal (Salt Park), which also includes a museum of mining, mineralogy, geology and natural resources. The Salt Park covers an area of 32 hectares (79 acres). Visitors can observe pieces of art, depictions of the mining process, geology displays, educational exhibitions about environmental friendly mining and sustainable development
  The main places at the park are:
  The Sacred Axis,  a square with a halite hand carved cross (4.2 metres (14 ft) height)
  The Salt Dome
  The mine
  The Brine Museum, where the visitor learns about how works the extraction process of salt from the halite.  Also, exhibitions of the geological studies, engineering and architecture process in the creation of the cathedral can be seen.
  The Reservoir
  The Forests
  The Salt auditorium.
caption: Holy Family sculpture.
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