The Guadalajara Reporter

Martyrs’ Sanctuary inches toward completion

Twelve years since construction began, the main congregation hall of Guadalajara’s elaborate Martyrs’ Temple (Santuario de los Martires) is now 70 percent complete and the entire project could be finished within three years.

That’s what the head of construction, Hector Manuel Castellanos Frank, told Spanish-language daily El Informador this week. But given that the entire project was once due to be finished in 2004, not everyone will take such predictions as gospel.

The pet project of Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, the controversial former archbishop of Guadalajara, the temple is being built on the Cerro del Tesoro, a hill that overlooks the city from its southern perimeter. It will honor the 25 Mexican martyrs canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000, 23 of whom died in the Cristero Wars from 1926 to 1929.

The Catholic Church has so far invested about 180 million pesos in the project. Its total cost to date, including donations but not the price of the 16.5-acre plot of land donated by a local family, is around 450 million pesos, El Informador reports.

The main worship area, which will have a capacity of 12,000 people, is slowly but steadily nearing completion, with 80 construction workers from five companies working on a daily basis from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The entire complex will also include a charity-run school and hospital, an open-air atrium with room for up to 60,000 people, and a multi-level parking lot with space for 2,000 cars and 100 buses.

The most visually striking aspect of the Sanctuary will be its three domes comprised of 40,000 steel bars, the tallest of which will be 70 meters high. Once complete, it will be the largest temple in Mexico and a major attraction for religious tourism.