Construction began in 1573 and proceeded in sections until 1813. Claudio de Arciniega planned the cathedral, drawing on Gothic cathedrals in Spain, and Juan Gómez de Trasmonte directed the work after the flood of 1629. José Damián Ortiz de Castro designed the bell towers and led the works until his death in 1793. Manuel Tolsá completed the dome and lantern.
The article gives a length of 420 feet (128 m) and a height of 220 feet (67 m) to the tower tips. The width appears as both 220 feet and about 194 feet (59 m). Five naves and sixteen chapels fill the plan, fourteen of them open to the public. The materials are chiluca, stone and tezontle.
The soft clay soil caused sinking, and the cathedral was named among the 100 Most Endangered Sites before restoration took it off the list in 2000. A fire on January 17, 1967, damaged much of the interior.
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