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Earthquake-Proof
Worship Space
Catedral Metropolitana
Managua, Nicaragua
Walter P Moore provided structural engineering services for the Catedral Metropolitana in Managua, Nicaragua, the first cathedral to be built in North, Central or South America in over 30 years. The facility which seats 2,500 parishioners is situated within a 32-acre plaza designed to accommodate outdoor religious celebrations in Managua.
Massive earthquakes in Nicaragua in 1893, 1931, and 1972 destroyed the city of Managua. The 1972 earthquake destroyed the old cathedral and left Managua, a 90 percent Catholic population, the only capital city in the Western Hemisphere without a cathedral. The owner of Domino's Pizza, Tom Monaghan, a profound philanthropist, raised most of the $4.2 million construction cost through his Mission Chapels Foundation. The famous Mexican architect, Ricardo Legorreta, who was subsequently named Architecto de las Americas in 1993, created a simple and straight-forward design that is within the new liturgy of the Church.
The Catedral Metropolitana features a cast-in-place concrete frame with concrete dome roofs. Walter P. Moore worked closely with Legorreta to assure a seismically-safe design and appropriate finishes inside and out. All concrete is exposed and brush-hammered by hand. Construction was completed in 1992.
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