For more than 470 years, the faitful in
San Juan have sought serenity at their supreme house of worship, the Cathedral of San Juan. First built in 1521 by the Spanish colony's first bishop, Alonso Manso, the thatched wooden church was blown away by a hurricane in 1526. A new temple, built from stone dragged by horse from inland quarries, was completed in 1529, in time for the first ordination of a bishop performed in the New World. By 1865, 344 years and 48 bishops later, the Cathedral assumed its current form, although major restorations were performed in 1917 and in the 1970s.