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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

About this photograph

Creator
Margery H. Freeman
Date created
January 1980
Location
Guadalajara, Mexico
License
This photograph copyright ©2007. Terms of use

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The Guadalajara Cathedral

Size: 709×1024

Rubble and debris from a construction project litter the ground in front of a large church. The church has a central dome flanked by two towers. To the left is a secondary dome. A person on a bicycle rides through the debris in the foreground.

The Guadalajara Cathedral, or Metropolitan Cathedral, was built during the colonial era. Construction began in in the 1560s and was completed over fifty years later. The original towers were destroyed in an earthquake in 1818; the current towers were constructed in the middle of the nineteenth century. Hence, the cathedral blends colonial and neo-classical architecture.

Guadalajara was founded soon after the conquest of Mexico in the sixteenth century and has grown to be one of Mexico’s primary cities. It is the second largest city in Mexico, behind Mexico City, and is the industrial capital of the country. The city is famous for its manufacture of hardware and software for Mexico’s technology industry. It is also a popular tourist destination for its blend of colonial sites and modern conveniences.