La Plata Cathedral

The machine is located in the Church store.

Built in the Neo-Gothic style entirely out of bricks, the Cathedral of La Plata has been inscribed since 1996 in the marble floors of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome as one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Its construction began in 1885, based on a design by the then Director of Public Works, Engineer Pedro Benoit. The floor plan consists of a central nave, taller in height, and two side naves. It covers an area of seven thousand square meters, can accommodate seven thousand people, and measures 120 meters long by 76 meters wide.

In 1881, a competition was opened for the submission of plans and budgets for the construction of public buildings in the city, including the Cathedral. The competition was widely publicized, with entries from France, Germany, England, Belgium, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina. A fundamental requirement was that the temple have a monumental character. The competition committee rejected all proposed plans for the temple as they did not meet the competition’s criteria.

The task of developing a new project was then assigned to the Engineering Department of the Ministry of Public Works of the Province of Buenos Aires. The project was presented by the then Director of Public Works, Engineer Pedro Benoit, with the final drawings by German architect Ernesto Meyer, assisted by architect Emilio Coutaret. The cornerstone of the Cathedral of La Plata was laid in 1884, two years after the founding of the city of La Plata.

Immigrant workers arrived from Italy, France, Spain, and Germany with the mission of building a new city, “La Plata,” with its most important buildings aligned along a monumental axis, including the Cathedral.

“Nature,” said Dardo Rocha, “teaches us that lasting structures are only raised with great effort and over a long time, and so too the works of men, if they are to endure, must be made in their image—crafted through hard labor and tireless effort…”

Thus, the original determination to provide the city of La Plata with a large-scale Catholic temple is evident.

On November 19, 1932, the Main Temple was inaugurated with a solemn mass on the 50th anniversary of the city of La Plata. By that date, the Cathedral remained unfinished; the two front towers, stained-glass windows, floors, sculptures, ornaments, and important wooden interior works were still missing.

Starting in 1997, at the urging of the Cathedral Foundation, the Government of the Province of Buenos Aires undertook the task of completing the missing aspects of the building, respecting the original design by engineer Pedro Benoit, with the goal of finishing the Cathedral before the end of the millennium.

The restoration and completion of the Cathedral of La Plata included: the recovery of walls, ceilings, and windows; the reinforcement of its foundations to support the additional 2,000 tons; and finally, the construction of the two front towers. These consist of a first brick section extending up to 63 meters in height, a second 20-meter section built in white stone-like material, and a final 30-meter section clad in copper.

Lastly, as established in Benoit’s project, 57 religious statues made of stone-like material adorn the front, each standing between 3 and 4 meters tall. The largest is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and is placed on the main pediment of the temple.

The carillon of the Cathedral of La Plata consists of twenty-five bells weighing almost 20 tons. Before their installation in the Tower of Mary, facing Avenida 51 at a height of 75 meters, they were blessed by Archbishop Monsignor Carlos Galán. Each bell is tuned to a specific musical note, allowing the carillon to function as an instrument itself; the tuning starts from the natural “A” note. The largest bell is dedicated to His Holiness Pope John Paul II, standing 172 cm tall and weighing 3,400 kg.

On November 19, 1999, around 150,000 people attended, with deep admiration and undeniable emotion, the inauguration of the Cathedral’s new façade.

The emotional peak was reached during the performance of Handel’s “Hallelujah” by a choir of over 400 people and the Argentine Theater Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by the sound of the great bell tower, as fireworks lit up the temple even more.

During the ceremony, Cardinal Raúl Primatesta read a message from Pope John Paul II, which stated:

*”This monumental temple in Neo-Gothic style, whose cornerstone was laid in 1884, rises right in the geographical center of La Plata, as if seeking to draw the gaze and aspirations of all its inhabitants upward to the heavens with the ascending movement of its spire towers.”*

The Cathedral Foundation remains the faithful custodian of the Cathedral building and manages, through private and public participation, the necessary resources for its preservation.