The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica stands on the main square of Bogotá, the ceremonial centre of Colombia, surrounded by the buildings of government and justice. Its long facade, framed by twin towers, presents a deliberately restrained classical composition, while inside the nave opens into a broad, high and luminous space, punctuated by side chapels, altarpieces, choir stalls and works of religious art accumulated over generations. As the seat of the archdiocese it is also a civic building: state funerals, national commemorations and the great feasts of the Catholic calendar are held here, and the square outside has been the stage of Colombian political life. The episode alternates architectural reading with the observation of a working cathedral, from the light crossing the nave in the thin air of the Andes to the crowds that fill the square at its doors.
