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Colombia has a cathedral 200 metres underground, inside a salt mine

By The Salt AlmanacPublished November 8, 2026

The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá, near Bogotá, opened in 1995 to replace an earlier underground sanctuary closed in 1992 for safety reasons. Visitors pass 14 small chapels for the Stations of the Cross, carved into the halite. The Muisca people mined salt here as early as the 5th century BC.

Read the full story: Halite

More salt facts

English towns ending in “-wich” were often salt townsOne of the world's biggest salt mines lies under Lake HuronPolish miners carved a chapel, chandeliers and all, out of saltThe world's largest salt flat is used to calibrate satellites

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For school projects and reports. Teachers often prefer the original sources too: see the list below.

The Salt Almanac. (2026, November 8). Colombia has a cathedral 200 metres underground, inside a salt mine. https://saltalmanac.com/did-you-know/zipaquira-salt-cathedral

Original sources

  1. Wikipedia. Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Cathedral_of_Zipaquir%C3%A1
  2. NPR / MPR News. Colombia's Salt Cathedral is marvel of architecture, popular house of worship (2019). https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/04/20/npr-colombia-salt-cathedral