Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral faces the Plaza de Armas and is the fifth church built on its site, where Pedro de Valdivia founded the first in 1541. Bishop Juan González Melgarejo commissioned it in 1746, and the first stone was laid on July 1, 1748. The Bavarian Jesuits Pedro Vogl and Juan Hagen made the original plans.
The Italian architect Joaquín Toesca directed the work from 1779 and imposed a neoclassical design. Ignacio Cremonesi made final modifications from 1898, covering the stone walls with stucco, and Archbishop Mariano Casanova consecrated the finished cathedral on May 5, 1906. The article gives both 1748 to 1906 and nearly 80 years for the work.
It is 148 feet (45 m) wide and about 328 feet (100 m) long, with three naves and two facade towers. Earthquakes in 1647 and 1657 ruined earlier buildings, and a fire in 1769 destroyed the old cathedral.
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