The vicissitudes of the cathedral of Tijuana: its origins as a small wooden temple

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze the history of the first Catholic church of Tijuana. How is the border character expressed, both in the history of the city and in the Catholicism that arose in it, in the trajectory of this space and its architecture? The Catholic Church was present in the region at the end of the nineteenth century, driven by missionaries from Southern California. Started in the twentieth century, a small wooden temple with the characteristics of a Protestant church in rural America would be installed, which over time was modified to be in keeping with the traditional architectural forms in Mexico. This would be consolidated by the middle of the century, giving it the status of Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Also, the history of this temple is linked to the political tensions between the church and the state, and the role that different social organizations had in this.