Amid the hus­tle, bus­tle and bur­geon­ing life of east Port-of-Spain stands the Cathe­dral of the Im­mac­u­late Con­cep­tion. Its blue lime­stone blocks tow­er in­to the sky, rep­re­sent­ing both a ge­o­graph­i­cal and his­tor­i­cal land­mark east of the na­tion’s cap­i­tal.

Through flood­ing and earth­quakes, the moth­er church of the Ro­man Catholic faith in this coun­try has sur­vived the test of time. This year marks 175 years since the Cathe­dral was ded­i­cat­ed and giv­en its hon­orary sta­tus of a Mi­nor Basil­i­ca—a des­ig­na­tion giv­en by Pope Pius IX that holds spe­cial ec­cle­si­as­ti­cal priv­i­leges, his­tor­i­cal im­por­tance, and artis­tic val­ue.

Con­struc­tion be­gan in 1816—the same year work on the An­gli­can Church’s Holy Trin­i­ty Cathe­dral on Queen Street al­so start­ed—and it would take 35 years to com­plete the struc­ture. It was meant to re­place the first Catholic Church in Port-of-Spain, built in 1784 on the site now known as Tamarind Square.