Zipaquirá and Salt Cathedral

A journey of approximately an hour and a half north east from Bogota takes you to Zipaquira and its famous Salt Cathedral. An incredible feat of engineering, this underground Roman Catholic church is built within the tunnels of a salt mine 200 metres underground. The name Zipaquirá refers to Zipa, the leader of the Muisca tribe and the chief of these rich salt mines at the time. Carved meticulously by removing 250,000 tonnes of Salt, the church is now cinematically lit to showcase the workmanship of the miners and artists. The atrium is 75m long and 18m high, with the capacity to accommodate 8400 people.