Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Photo: Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

One of the first chapels of the city of Calama (2250 meters above sea level and 215 km North-East of the city of Antofagasta) was located on Balmaceda Avenue, opposite city railway station, and burned down in 1906, after the devastating earthquake. In the same year, the bishops had issued a decree on the construction of a new Church with his arrival in Calama. The document was signed on January 22, 1906 Apostolic vicar of Antofagasta, Monsignor Luis Silva Lezaeta Bishop of the Church of San Francisco de Chiu-Chiu.

The first entry made in the register of the parish of Calama, a priest Pedro Durango was that the first person was dipped in the font of a new parish, was Carolina Vazquez Garcia, the record date from April 1, 1906. For many years the Church of the city of Calama not worked on a regular basis and as a temporary chapel. The priest Jose Franta has insisted that the long-awaited Church building was finally erected on the square named after the 23 March. The father of a Dandy, dressed in simple clothing, from dawn to dusk worked tirelessly. Laid the Foundation and built the walls with their assistants, have done everything to speed up the process of building the Church.

In 1927 completed the walls and roof of the Church de Calama, in which the first mass was conducted by Bishop Luis Silva Lezaeta. But eventually the temple will be built until many years later.

His Holiness Pope Paul VI in 1965 he published a bull on the allocation of Calama from the Archdiocese of Antofagasta and the erection of the Church Kalama to the rank of Cathedral.

In 2001 it was reconstructed building of the Cathedral on the donations of the Chilean National Corporation Codelco (the world's largest copper producer).

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Cathedral of St. John the Baptist