Catedral de San Ildefonso

The Catedral de San Ildefonso stands in Mexico, the oldest cathedral on the American mainland. Builders raised it between 1561 and 1598, in years when Maya and Spanish clashed and coexisted. The façade earns the fortress comparisons: two towers climb more than forty metres, and arrowslits still dot the stone. The plan was to impress and to defend at once.

One detail catches the eye before you reach the door: no cross appears anywhere on the façade. Perhaps that absence reflects the tensions of the founding years. The main portal, the Gate of Forgiveness, opens only on special occasions, flanked by statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Above the arch sits a huge carved coat of arms, reworked over the centuries as Spanish kings gave way to Mexican emperors. Inside, immense stone columns carry three naves and a dome modelled on the Pantheon in Rome. The Christ of the Blisters supplies the strangest story of all: a wooden figure darkened by fire, yet never burned. The original vanished without trace during the revolution of 1915.

Up in the north tower, ten bells ring for Mass, each one dedicated to a saint. The south tower answers with silence: an old London clock and a faded sundial, their markings worn from the stone.