Barranquilla is certainly not the most beautiful city I have ever seen, especially when compared with the recent highlight of Cartagena. But since flights out of Barranquilla are a good deal cheaper than those out of Cartagena, I went anyway.
Walking around the city, I managed to find something if not beautiful, then at least very interesting: the cathedral. The cathedral is a relatively new building, at least in comparison to other churches. If it weren't for the cross-shaped stained glass windows, from its outside you'd never guess it was a church.
The entrance was a small door hidden on the far side of the church; all the main doors were barred. Once inside, I just stood there with my mouth open: its inside was even less like what I've come to expect from a church than its outside. There was no traditional altar, a big three-dimensional carving on an otherwise empty wall was all.
Empty was an adequate description for the rest of the cathedral, too. It consisted of one huge, sparsely decorated room with an impossibly high ceiling - and without any pillars to support the roof. I guess that's what created the impression of the cathedral being much emptier than most churches. Modern architects be praised! ;-)
The most striking decoration were the stained glass windows - apparently partly imported from Germany. From the outside, they didn't appear very big or impressive, but seen from the inside they seemed to occupy far more space, creating beautiful, albeit religious, motives out of small individual windows.
Walking around the city, I managed to find something if not beautiful, then at least very interesting: the cathedral. The cathedral is a relatively new building, at least in comparison to other churches. If it weren't for the cross-shaped stained glass windows, from its outside you'd never guess it was a church.
The entrance was a small door hidden on the far side of the church; all the main doors were barred. Once inside, I just stood there with my mouth open: its inside was even less like what I've come to expect from a church than its outside. There was no traditional altar, a big three-dimensional carving on an otherwise empty wall was all.
Empty was an adequate description for the rest of the cathedral, too. It consisted of one huge, sparsely decorated room with an impossibly high ceiling - and without any pillars to support the roof. I guess that's what created the impression of the cathedral being much emptier than most churches. Modern architects be praised! ;-)
The most striking decoration were the stained glass windows - apparently partly imported from Germany. From the outside, they didn't appear very big or impressive, but seen from the inside they seemed to occupy far more space, creating beautiful, albeit religious, motives out of small individual windows.
