The ‘hollow mountain’ hidden details that make the most important monument of the city.
1. The temple breathe
The temple conservation team, headed by architect Alfonso Jimenez, placed in July 2006 sensors to monitor the evolution of the two pillars of the choir cracked, then studied in detail during a complex restoration process successfully concluded. The alarm went off when sensors reported movements of up to three inches. The inquiries during the following hours calmed tempers. The domes of the Cathedral dilate daily as the temperature is changing. Experience an upward movement in the morning and another down at the end of the day, a kind of breathing and expiration in a perfect cycle. It is said since then that the Cathedral has life. And literally moves every day. According to experts, it is good that the architecture of the temple vaults have that range of motion in avoidance of any disaster, in which case the absolute rigidity of the stone would be no benefit, but rather a factor playing against. Sensors placed during those years showed that any major restoration should be harnessed to know more and better the temple. The Cathedral never ceases to amaze in details like a perfect creation that construction began in 1433 and finished being constructed at noon on October 10, 1506, as recorded in the original records held Cabildo. Five hundred years after that completion is still knows more of this great hollow mountain.
2. Why the stone falls?
The stone used in the Cathedral is known as calcoarenita. It is a very cheap and of poor quality material. The beginning of the XXI century has been marked by continuous landslides, triggered by three causes: the low strength of the material, limited versatility and blackening and weakening caused by pollution generated by the traffic of the Avenue until 2007. The Pinnacles for example, they are subjected to one that is rounded arenisation over time. Restores all the covers and the pedestrianization of Avenida have mitigated this problem.
