Description of the attraction
One of the first chapels in the city of Calama (2250 meters above sea level and 215 km northeast of the city of Antofagasta) was located on Balmaceda Avenue, opposite the city railway station, and burned down in 1906 after a devastating earthquake. In the same year, the episcopate issued a decree on the construction of a new church with its parish in the city of Kalama. The document was signed on 22 January 1906 by the Apostolic Vicar of Antofagasta, Monsignor Luis Silva Lezaeta, Bishop of the Church of San Francisco de Chiu Chiu.
The first entry made in the registration book of the parish of Calama by the priest Pedro Durango said that the first person to be dipped into the font of the new parish was Carolina Vasquez Garcia, the entry dates from April 1, 1906. For many years, the church of Kalama did not work regularly, but as a temporary chapel. Priest Jose Franta insisted that the long-awaited building of the temple be finally erected on the square named after March 23rd. Frant's father himself, dressed in simple overalls, worked tirelessly from dawn to dusk. He laid the foundation and erected the walls with his assistants, did everything to speed up the process of building the church.
In 1927, the walls and roof of the Church of Calama were fully completed, in which the first Mass was celebrated by Bishop Luis Silva Lezaeta. But the final temple will be built only many years later.
His Holiness Pope Paul VI issued a bull in 1965 about the separation of Kalama from the Archdiocese of Antofagasta and the erection of the Church of Kalama to the rank of a cathedral.
In 2001, the building of the cathedral was reconstructed with donations from the Chilean National Corporation Codelco (the world's largest copper producer).
