In 1746, a fire consumed the temple dedicated to the town of Tegucigalpa, which is destroyed. It is when the Bishop of HondurasDiego Rodriguez de Rivas and Velasco, at that time apostolic hierarch in the city of Comayagua, in 1756 ordered the construction of a new temple on the same site, charging that objective the priest Jose Simeon Zelaya Cepeda. The parish of St. Michael the Archangel was founded in 1763, while the cathedral began to be built between 1765-1786 by Father Jose Simeon Zelaya Cepeda, who had studied in the Tridentine College of Comayagua, the architect was Joseph Gregory Nazianzen Quiroz, of Guatemalan origin; the work was consecrated and inaugurated by Fray Antonio de San Miguel in 1782.
Architecture
The building is about 60 meters long, 11 wide and 18 high, it has a single vaulted body and its dome reaches 30 meters high. The style of the architecture is Baroque. In 1788 the religious painter José Miguel Gómez also graduated from the Tridentino College of Saint Agustin of Comayagua finished the painting work in the Cathedral, his works being the following: "Holy Family", "Holy Trinity", "Saint John of Colazan" and "the Holy Supper ”The“ Four Evangelists ”were painted adorning the vault. These works were carried out by agreement with Bishop Fray Diego Rodrigo de Rivas, in the "rockery" style is the Main Altarpiece and the silver front of the main altar without forgetting the beautiful sculpture of San Miguel, in the back of the cathedral there is a courtyard with an altar in honor of the Virgin of Lourdes. An earthquake in 1823 caused severe damage, which is why it was closed for repair for six years. In 1934, the Honduran painter Teresa Victoria Fortín Franco, worked together with the teacher Alejandro del Vecchio in the decoration and restoration of some works of the Cathedral Church of Tegucigalpa. The Cathedral of San Miguel de Tegucigalpa is one of the oldest and most important buildings in the city that is preserved to this day in good general condition. The building has a place in Honduran history that is not limited to the sphere of influence of the city of Tegucigalpa but to the entire country, being the most renowned and traditional church since the beginning of the 20th century. Being an old building, a proposal was made to restore the interior, the atrium, the side courtyards and the façade: the project has been carried out by the Department of Anthropological Research through the Archeology Section of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History.
