South American Cathedrals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bogotá

Of these four only Bogotá is a capital. Barranquilla is another Colombian city while Cuzco can be found in Peru and Rio in Brazil. Bogotá lies on the Savannah of Bogotá, a high plateau in the Andes. It is the third highest capital in South America at an altitude of 2,625 meters (8,612 ft).

The original town was founded in the mid 1500s. The church was founded around the same time. The history of the Cathedral of Colombia follows closely with the history of the city of Bogota. Its current incarnation was begun in 1807 by architect Fray Domingo de Petrés and was done in the neoclassical tradition prevalent at the time. The most recent work was done in the twentieth century under the Spanish architect Alfredo Rodríguez Orgaz, culminating in the work done in 1968 to coincide with the visit of Pope Paul VI that year.

Answer: Brasilia

Brasilia was founded in 1960 to serve as the capital of Brazil. The first construction tok place from 1956 to 1960. Rio de Janeiro had served as the country's capital prior to 1960. Brasilia was chosen for its more central location. The city is located in the Brazilian Highlands.

The Cathedral of Brasília was begun in 1958 and completed in 1970. The cathedral is a Hyperboloid structure formed by 16 columns. Outside of the main entrance are four bronze statues of the Four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Originally designed to be a possible ecumenical church paid for by government funds, the cathedral was eventually turned over to the Catholic church when government funds were not forthcoming.

Answer: United Kingdom

Guyana was known as British Guyana until 1966 when it gained its independence from the United Kingdom. The English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh was the first European to discover Guyana, writing a book about it in 1596, but it was the Dutch that first settled there in the 1600s. The English took control of the colony in 1814.

Guyana is one of three countries that comprise the majority of the area between the Orinoco River of Venezuela and the Amazon River of Brazil. These countries are Guyana, Suriname (formerly Dutch Guiana), and French Guiana.

St. George's Cathedral was built between 1892 and 1899. It is one of the tallest wooden churches in the world rising to a height of 43.5 meters (143 ft). The church is done in the Gothic style with clustered columns and flying buttresses.

Answer: Sao Paulo

Paul is the author and Sao Paulo is the city. Sao Paulo is the largest city by population in Brazil and all of South America for that matter. It lies in southeastern Brazil in the state of the same name. The city is situated on a plateau about 70 kilometers (43 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean. Sao Paulo was founded in 1554. The Brazilian Highlands or Brazilian Plateau makes up approximately half of the country. Prehistoric lava flows created the highlands.

The original church in the city was finished in 1616. This church lasted until 1745 when a new church was built in the Baroque style. This church lasted until 1911 when it was torn down to make room for the current cathedral. The Catedral Metropolitana broke ground in 1913 but was not completed until 1967. It was built in a Neo-Gothic style.

Answer: Rio de Janeiro

Rio is world famous for its Carnaval celebrations each year during the season prior to Lent. They date back to 1823 and are estimated to have as many as two million people a day on the streets making the Rio Carnaval the biggest in the world.

Ipanema Beach became famous during the 1960s when the song "The Girl from Ipanema" won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. Sugarloaf Mountain sits on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of Guanabara Bay. It rises 396 meters (1,299 ft) from the peninsula.

The Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro was constructed between 1964 and 1979. It is dedicated to the patron saint of Rio, Saint Sebastian. This current cathedral replaced the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of the Ancient See, which was built in the 18th century and still exists today. Rio has had a church/cathedral dating back to 1676. The current cathedral has a standing room capacity of 20,000.

Answer: Buenos Aires

Argentina has a long history of immigration so it is not surprising that a Russian Orthodox church might be found in its capital, Buenos Aires. In fact, Argentina is second to only the US in the Americas for the number of immigrants entering the country.

With the influx of Greek and Slavonic immigrants in the 19th century, a need arose for an Eastern Orthodox church. These immigrants appealed to Emperor Alexander II of the Russian Empire who signed the decree. The cathedral was designed by noted Argentinean architect Alejandro Christophersen and built at the turn of the twentieth century. The cathedral can be found in San Telmo, the oldest barrio in Buenos Aires.

The Pampas is a huge area of lowlands that is extremely fertile. It encompasses five Argentine provinces, most of Uruguay and the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Answer: The Soviet Sputnik satellites

Maringa, Brazil, is a new city founded in 1947 and located in the south of Brazil in the state of Paraná. Maringa is an agricultural community that is well watered by consistent rain and four rivers. It is a planned community like many in Brazil.

Architect José Augusto Bellucci was inspired by the Sputnik satellites in designing the cathedral. The cornerstone of the cathedral was laid on August 15, 1958, and brought directly from Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. The cathedral is made up of an inner and an outer cone between which there is a 598 step staircase that is open to the public. On the 14th floor there is an observatory where you can see out over the city.

Answer: Colombia

The Zipaquirá Salt Cathedral can be found in Colombia, 48 km (30 miles) outside of Bogota in the town of Zipaquirá, Cundinamarca Department. The cathedral is 200 meters (650 ft) down inside of the salt mine. It is considered to be an architectural treasure of Colombia. The old cathedral was built in the early 1950s with a newer one being constructed in the 1990s, 200 feet below the old one.

The salt deposits have been mined since back in the fifth century BC when the pre-Columbian Muisca culture exploited them to become a rich and powerful people. Noted geographer and explorer Alexander von Humboldt visited the area in 1801 and described the mining during that time period.

El Arba is a cave system in which archeological excavation has shown it is one of the oldest human settlements in the Americas. Radiocarbon dating places settlement of the area around 12,400 BCE.

Answer: Medellín

Pablo Escobar headed the Medellín Cartel along with the Ochoa Vázquez brothers. The cartel was vicious and even employed its own paramilitary death squads. By 1993 the cartel had been decimated by a combination of actions taken by the Colombian government, the US government, and rival drug cartels including the Cali Cartel.

Medellín is the second largest city in Colombia and is situated in the Aburrá Valley at the northern end of the Andes mountains. Francisco Herrera Campuzano founded what would become the city in 1616. Antioquia is the sixth largest Department of Colombia and 80% of its territory is mountainous.

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Medellín was declared a Colombian National Monument in 1982 because of its historical and architectural value. Built in the late 1800s and designed by French architect Émile Charles Carré, the cathedral was constructed of over 1.1 million baked bricks and is purported to be the largest cathedral made of such material. It features the Romanesque style predominant in the late 19th century during the Romanesque Revival period.

Answer: Ecuador

The area where Las Lajas Sanctuary now stands has been a major attraction to the locals in both Colombia and neighboring Ecuador since the late 1700s. It is the site where, according to tradition, an image of the Virgin Mary appeared in a cave and healed a local Indian girl who had been deaf and mute. Over the years several churches were built to accommodate the pilgrims who came seeking healing. The current cathedral was constructed between 1916 and 1949 with contributions from the local population. The cathedral rises 100 meters (328 ft) from the canyon floor and is connected to the other side of the gorge by a bridge fifty meters (164 ft) from the bottom.

Ipiales is situated on a major highway that is part of the Pan American Highway. This highway heads from Colombia to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The city is a major economic center because of the border crossing.