title: Letter to You

text: An emoji in the shape of Springsteen was released via Twitter to promote the album on October14. Apple Music hosted "Letter to You Radio", a channel where Springsteen interviews fellow musicians such as Brandon Flowers, Dave Grohl, and Eddie Vedder, along with political discussion from guests such as Jon Stewart.


title: Letter to You

text: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed "Ghosts" and "I'll See You in My Dreams" on the December 12, 2020 episode of "Saturday Night Live" marking the band's first performance since 2017 and its first to promote "Letter to You". Bassist Garry Tallent and violinist Soozie Tyrell opted to remain home due to COVID-19 travel concerns. Jack Daly of the Disciples of Soul filled in for Tallent.


title: Letter to You

text: With 35 reviews, aggregator Album of the Year considers critical consensus as a 82 out of 100 and AnyDecentMusic? sums up 27 critics with an 8.0 out of 10.


title: Letter to You

text: Alex McLevy of "The A.V. Club" gave the album an A rating, calling it "one of the finest achievements of Bruce Springsteen’s career" for the songwriting's profound look at loss and the fact that listeners can hold up "nearly any track as a microcosm of its overall scope". Kory Grow of "Rolling Stone" awarded this four out of five stars for Springsteen's deep ability to express his emotions in the "self-therapy" of the lyrics and sums up the music as "the sound of Springsteen accepting that for himself". Richard Williams of "Uncut" devotes a lengthy review of "Letter to You" that places it in the context of Springsteen's career as a milestone release that is ultimately about Springsteen, his relationship with his band, and their relationship with the audience, particularly in their ability to interpret American culture, history, and politics; he gives it a nine out of 10. "Mojo" also published a long review of this album, with Keith Cameron giving it four out of five stars, comparing this album to several that Springsteen has released across his career, noting that the musicianship keeps the album from being overly sentimental. Writing for the Associated Press, David Bauder has a mixed take on the material, noting how it's ironic that the composer of "Glory Days" spends so much time looking back and while Springsteen "is not, by any means, a nostalgia act", between this album and his Broadway show, his current output "is less about pulling out of here to win than pulling back in to appreciate what he has"; the review praises some songs but notes that Springsteen sometimes slips into cliché.


title: Letter to You

text: In "The Wall Street Journal", Mark Richardson considers "Letter to You" a concept album about music's ability to give life meaning and points out how it closes a chapter on Springsteen's career. Dan DeLuca of "The Philadelphia Inquirer" also considers the songs "life-affirming", giving it 3.5 out of four stars. Robin Murray of "Clash" writes that listening to the album is a "moving experience" and rates it an eight out of 10. In "The Daily Telegraph", Neil McCormick gave this five out of five stars for being "a celebration of performing music; a roar against the silence enveloping the world". Another five-star review by Helen Brown of "The Independent" declares the music so intimate that the musicians "feel so present and close that listeners might feel they’re violating the pandemic rules". "NME"s Leonie Cooper also gave the release five out of five, emphasizing the continuity present in this work that draws together themes across Springsteen's career. Chris Willman of "Variety" calls this "musical comfort food" and calls this and "Western Stars" the "high-water marks" of Springsteen's career since 2002's "The Rising".


title: Letter to You

text: Sam Sodomsky of "Pitchfork" scored "Letter to You" a 7.4 out of 10, noting that Springsteen acts as a narrator on the album, "observing the ways that music can sustain us, with a tone pitched between deep reverence and loss... That simple but elusive power forms the thematic heart of the record, and it also informs the sound." Tyler Clark of "Consequence of Sound" gave the album a B+ for "boldly looking to the future", with a few tracks that are "plodding" or that "tip into schmaltz". The publication took this release as an opportunity to rank all of Springsteen's 20 studio albums, with "Letter to You" coming in at twelfth. In "Spin", John Paul Bullock calls this "one of the warmest and most reassuring records of [Springsteen's] career", particularly with the accompanying documentary breaking down the recording process. In "The Atlantic", David Brooks assess "Letter to You" as the musician's happiest album in decades as well as being "a sincere and vulnerable album" about the "art of ageing well".


title: Letter to You

text: The album is "eloquent" according to Ken Capobianco of "The Boston Globe", who called the record "a celebration of life and a reminder of how rock ’n’ roll can help transcend grief and loss". Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" named this the Album of the Week, giving it three out of five stars and tempering his review by calling this "a scaling down of ambition" but nonetheless a success. The publication devoted a second review from Kitty Empire who declared it her album of the week, with four out of five stars and calling it a "sledgehammer" of succor for its ability to process emotions of grief and providing uplift. Carl Wilson of "Slate" gives a positive review but asks "how many Bruce memoirs are too many" in light of Springsteen's recent stage show and book, noting that "songs that are fine on their own simply feel like they’re making the same point the one a couple of tracks ago did". The editorial staff of AllMusic gave "Letter to You" 4.5 out of five stars, with reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine noting that the performances have a connection with the performers' early material but with a "shared sense of warmth", calling this "a record that's a meditation on mortality into a celebration of what it means to be alive in the moment".


title: Letter to You

text: Thom Zimny has worked with Bruce Springsteen for 20years, documenting live performances, the making of albums, and other film work and the musician suggested that he film the recording of this album. Springsteen had no particular plan for Zimny's narrative or scope for the filming, but the duo decided on black-and-white early on in the process to reflect a "perfectly gray NewJersey day". The wintertime photography from Danny Clinch and the film's visual appearance as a common metaphor for themes in the lyrics, "which are reflection of the past and some of the spirituality that you find in the music". As the COVID-19 pandemic rolled out during the creation of the movie, Springsteen and Zimny finished working on it remotely.


title: Letter to You

text: IndieWire's David Ehrlich reviewed the documentary, characterizing it as a "rockin' meditation on death" which is also "an upbeat portrait of someone who isn't going anywhere, even when he leaves us"; he gave the film a B rating. In "Time", Stephanie Zacharek also gave a positive assessment of the film, calling it "captivating" in its perspective on aging and as a retrospective on Springsteen's career. "Consequence of Sound" gave the documentary an A−, with reviewer Tyler Clark pointing out how the documentary focuses not only on this album but Springsteen's entire creative process and philosophy, including "his insights, mixed with his own already-secured legacy, offer a look inside the mind of a legend that’s valuable for anyone who also feels the pull of creativity". In "The Morning Sun", Al Alexander More graded the film an A−, noting that Springsteen has laid out a template and wisdom for other musicians to follow.


title: Letter to You

text: In "The Globe and Mail", Brad Wheeler gave the film 2.5 out of four stars for being "strikingly earnest" and a picture into the close camaraderie of the musicians but noting that it only works as a companion to the album and not as a film itself. CNN's Brian Lowry considers the movie a "Valentine" from Springsteen to his bandmates and their fans with "warmth and nostalgia [that] forges a link between the past and the present". "NME" supplemented their coverage of the album with another review by Leonie Cooper of the film, calling this a "grief-stricken contemplation on the fragility of life" that has pristine musical performances. "Newsday"s Robert Levin gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "joyful... magical and, yes... life affirming", noting that the album is also Springsteen's best in years.


title: Letter to You

text: "Letter to You" arrived at number 2 on "Billboard" 200, selling 96,000 units in its first week in the US, making Springsteen the first act with new top five-charting albums in each of the last six decades; this was also his 21st album in the top five. Springsteen tied John Mayer with the most spots topping the Top Rock Albums chart with five. On October26, the Official Charts Company announced that "Letter to You" was at number one on the midweek album chart update, selling more than the next four best-selling albums combined, and was on course to become Springsteen's twelfth number-one album in the United Kingdom at the end of the chart week. This made Springsteen the first solo artist with a chart-topping album in the United Kingdom across five decades and fell to fourth place the following week. Springsteen and Madonna each have 12 number-one albums, tied at second place behind Elvis Presley's and Robbie Williams' 13. The ARIA charts had "Letter to You" as the artist's fifth number-one album in Australia.


title: Letter to You

text: "Letter to You" was the best-selling album in the United States the week it debuted (although it charted behind Luke Combs' re-release of "What You See Is What You Get" due to streaming and individual track sales), with 96,000 equivalent album units, including 92,000 album sales. By the second week, it had topped 117,000. First-week sales in the United Kingdom were 51,800 units, with 95% being physical product and downloads, narrowly behind Lady Gaga's "Chromatica" for most album sales in the debut week of 2020 (her album having 53,000). It was the fastest-selling album of 2020 to date and helped buoy vinyl LP sales in the fourth quarter with over 6,000 copies sold. In the United States, "Letter to You" had 78,631 album sales in its first week, including 18,000 on vinyl, making it the second best-selling vinyl album of the year to date behind "The Slow Rush" by Tame Impala. In Ireland, this was the fastest-selling album of 2020 to date, debuting atop the charts and leaving Springsteen tied with Eminem for most number one albums by a solo artist with nine.


title: Letter to You

text: The two singles anticipating the album, "Letter to You" and "Ghosts" charted at numbers 2 and 5 respectively on the Rock Digital Songs chart. Furthermore, Springsteen hit the second spot in the Artist 100 in early November.


title: Robert Shaye

text: Robert Kenneth Shaye (born March 4, 1939) is an American businessman, film producer, actor, director, and writer. He is the founder of New Line Cinema, a film production studio that distributed films such as "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", and "The Lord of the Rings". In 2008, he left New Line after it merged with Warner Bros. Pictures.


title: Robert Shaye

text: Shaye was born to a Jewish family in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Dorothy and Max Mendle Shaye, a supermarket owner and artist. His mother was an immigrant from Russia. He is the brother of actress Lin Shaye.


title: Robert Shaye

text: Shaye graduated from Detroit's Mumford High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School. He also graduated from the University of Stockholm as a Fulbright scholar. Shaye is a member of the New York State Bar Association, and he has served on the board of trustees for the Neurosciences Institute, the Legal Aid Society, the American Film Institute, and the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation.


title: Robert Shaye

text: In 1967, Shaye formed New Line Cinema. The company started with a package of feature films and shorts rented to colleges. From there, New Line expanded to re-releases such as "Reefer Madness" and first-run domestic distribution of foreign films such as "Get Out Your Handkerchiefs". New Line famously released blockbuster films such as "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".


title: Robert Shaye

text: On January 28, 1994, New Line Cinema was acquired by the Turner Broadcasting System for $500 million, with Shaye earning more than $100 million. Later, in 1996, Turner Broadcasting System became part of Time Warner (which is currently known as WarnerMedia), a merger between Time Inc. and Warner Communications.


title: Robert Shaye

text: In 1998, when New Zealand director Peter Jackson brought his 25-minute pitch reel for a big screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic "The Lord of the Rings" to New Line, hoping to turn the three volumes into two films, Shaye suggested Jackson make three films instead. He subsequently greenlit a simultaneous production for all three installments. "The Lord of the Rings" was nominated a total of thirty Academy Awards, winning 17, including 11 awards for "". At the box office, all three films are among New Line's highest-grossing films, earning a combined total of nearly $3 billion worldwide.


title: Robert Shaye

text: In June 2008, Shaye and company co-chairman Michael Lynne departed New Line and formed an independent film company, Unique Features. The company's recent projects include "" (Sony/Constantin), the TV series "Shadowhunters" (Freeform Television), "When the Bough Breaks" (Screen Gems), and "Ambition", directed by Shaye.


Reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) encompasses five key issues: categories of membership, the question of the veto held by the five permanent members, regional representation, the size of an enlarged Council and its working methods, and the Security Council-General Assembly relationship. The Member States, regional groups and other Member State interest groupings developed different positions and proposals on how to move forward on this contested issue.


title: Reform of the United Nations Security Council

text: Any reform of the Security Council would require the agreement of at least two-thirds of UN member states in a vote in the General Assembly and must be ratified by two-thirds of Member States. All of the permanent members of the UNSC (which have veto rights) must also agree.


text: The composition of the Security Council was established in 1945. Since then the geopolitical realities have changed drastically, but the council has changed very little. The victors of World War II shaped the United Nations Charter in their national interests, assigning themselves the permanent seats and associated veto power, among themselves. Any reform of the Security Council would require an amendment to the Charter. Article 108 of the Charter states:


text: With the enlargement of the United Nations membership and increasing self-confidence among the new members, going hand in hand with processes of decolonization, old structures and procedures were increasingly challenged. The imbalance between the number of seats in the Security Council and the total number of member States became evident, and the only significant reform of the Security Council occurred in 1965: this included an increase in the non-permanent membership from six to 10 members. With Boutros Boutros-Ghali elected as Secretary-General in 1992, the reform discussions of the UN Security Council were launched again as he started his new term with the first-ever summit of the Security Council and then published "An Agenda for Peace". His motivation was to restructure the composition and arguably anachronistic procedures of the UN organ to recognize the changed world. In the twenty-first century, the mismatch between the structure of the UN Security Council and the global reality the former is supposed to reflect became even more glaring. So much so that demands were raised by many politicians, diplomats and scholars to reform the Council at the earliest so that it reflects the reality of the present times and not the time of its establishment. For example, Indian scholar of diplomacy Rejaul Karim Laskar argues, "for the continued existence and relevance of the UN, it is necessary to ensure that it represents as nearly as possible the reality of the power equation of the twenty-first century world".


text: By 1992, Japan and Germany had become the second- and third-largest financial contributors to the United Nations, and started to demand a permanent seat. Also Brazil (fifth largest country in terms of territory) and India (second largest country in terms of population) as the most powerful countries within their regional groups and key players within their regions saw themselves with a permanent seat. This group of four countries formed an interest group later known as the G4.


text: On the other hand, their regional rivals were opposed to the G4 becoming permanent members with a veto power. They favored the expansion of the non-permanent category of seats with members to be elected on a regional basis. Italy, Pakistan, Mexico and Egypt started to form an interest group, known as the "Coffee Club" and later "Uniting for Consensus".


text: Simultaneously, the African Group started to demand two permanent seats for themselves, on the basis of historical injustices and because much of the council's agenda is concentrated in that continent. Those two seats would be permanent African seats, that would rotate between African countries chosen by the African group.


text: The existing permanent members, each holding the right of veto on Security Council reform, announced their positions reluctantly. The United States supported the permanent membership of Japan and India, and a small number of additional non-permanent members. The United Kingdom and France essentially supported the G4 position, with the expansion of permanent and non-permanent members and the accession of Germany, Brazil, India, and Japan to permanent-member status, as well as more African countries on the council. China supported the stronger representation of developing countries, voicing support for India. Russia has also endorsed India's candidature for a permanent seat on the Security Council.


text: The General Assembly Task Force on Security Council Reform has delivered a report (on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council) recommending a compromise solution for entering intergovernmental negotiations on reform.


text: The report builds on existing transitional/intermediary approaches to suggest a "timeline perspective". The "timeline perspective" suggests that Member States begin by identifying the negotiables to be included in short-term intergovernmental negotiations. Crucial to the "timeline perspective" is the scheduling of a mandatory review conference—a forum for discussing changes to any reforms achieved in the near-term, and for revisiting negotiables that cannot be agreed upon now.


text: On 21 March 2005, the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on the UN to reach a consensus on expanding the council to 24 members, in a plan referred to as "InLarger Freedom". He gave two alternatives for implementation, but did not specify which proposal he preferred.


text: In any case, Annan favored making the decision quickly, stating, "This important issue has been discussed for too long. I believe member states should agree to take a decision on it—preferably by consensus, but in any case before the summit—making use of one or other of the options presented in the report of the High-Level Panel".


text: The summit mentioned by Annan is the September 2005 Millennium+5 Summit, a high-level plenary meeting that reviewed Annan's report, the implementation of the 2000 Millennium Declaration, and other UN reform-related issues.


text: On 26 July 2005, five UN member countries, Italy, Argentina, Canada, Colombia and Pakistan, representing a larger group of countries called "Uniting for Consensus" led by Italy, proposed to the General Assembly another project that maintains five permanent members and raises the number of non-permanent members to 20.


text: One proposed change is to admit more permanent members. The candidates usually mentioned are Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan. They comprise the group of G4 nations, mutually supporting one another's bids for permanent seats. The United Kingdom, France, Russia and the United States support G4 membership in the U.N. Security Council. This sort of reform has traditionally been opposed by the Uniting for Consensus group, which is composed primarily of nations who are regional rivals and economic competitors of the G4. The group is led by Pakistan (opposing India), Italy and Spain (opposing Germany), Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina (opposing Brazil), and South Korea (opposing Japan), in addition to Turkey, Indonesia and others. Since 1992, Italy and other members of the group have instead proposed semi-permanent seats or the expansion of the number of temporary seats.


text: Most of the leading candidates for permanent membership are regularly elected onto the Security Council by their respective continental groups: Brazil and Japan were elected for eleven two-year terms, India for eight terms, and Germany for four terms (as well as West Germany two times, and East Germany once). Brazil has the most recent successful bid being elected to the term 2022–23, after a gap of eleven years.


text: In 2017, it was reported that the G4 nations were willing to temporarily forgo veto power if granted a permanent UNSC seat. As of 2013, the current "P5" members of the Security Council, along with the "G4", account for eight of the world's ten largest defense budgets, according to SIPRI. They also account for 9 of the 10 largest economies by both nominal GDP and Purchasing Power Parity.


text: Brazil is the largest country in Latin America in terms of population, GDP and land area. It has the seventh largest population, ninth largest GDP, eleventh largest defence budget, and has the fifth largest land area in the world. It is one of only five countries that ranks among the top ten globally in terms of physical size, population, and GDP (the others being fellow G4 member India, together with China, Russia and the United States). Furthermore, South America is one of three inhabited continents (the other two being Africa and Oceania) without permanent representation on the Security Council.


text: Brazil has been elected eleven times to the Security Council. It has contributed troops to UN peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East, the former Belgian Congo, Cyprus, Mozambique, Angola, and more recently East Timor and Haiti. Brazil is one of the main contributors to the UN regular budget.


text: Prior to the UN's founding in 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt lobbied for Brazil to be included on the Security Council, but the UK and the Soviet Union refused. The United States has sent strong indications to Brazil that it was willing to support its membership; albeit, without a veto. In June 2011, the Council on Foreign Relations recommended that the U.S. government fully endorse the inclusion of Brazil as a permanent member of the Security Council.


text: Brazil has received backing from four of the current permanent members, namely France, Russia, United Kingdom and China. Brazilian elevation to permanent membership is also supported by the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), and Brazil and the other G4 nations mutually support each other in their bids. Other countries that advocate permanent Brazilian membership of the UNSC include Australia, Chile, Finland, Guatemala, Indonesia, the Philippines, Slovenia, South Africa, and Vietnam.


text: Germany is the third largest contributor to the U.N. regular budgets next to Japan, and as such, argues for a permanent Security Council seat. Germany has been elected to the Security Council as a non-permanent member four times as a unified state, as well as three times when it was divided (twice for the West, once for the East).


text: France has explicitly called for a permanent seat in the UN for its close partner: "Germany's engagement, its ranking as a great power, its international influence—France would like to see them recognized with a permanent seat on the Security Council", French president Jacques Chirac said in a speech in Berlin in 2000. The former German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, also identified Russia, among other countries, as a country that backed Germany's bid. Former President Fidel V. Ramos of the Philippines also expressed his country's support for Germany's bid, together with Japan's. Italy and the Netherlands on the contrary, suggest a common European Union seat in the Council instead of Germany becoming the third European member next to France and the United Kingdom. The former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said that Germany would also accept a common European seat, but as long as there is little sign that France will give up her own seat, Germany should also have a seat.


text: The German campaign for a permanent seat was intensified in 2004. Schröder made himself perfectly clear in August 2004: "Germany has the right to a seat." Its bid is supported by Japan, India, Brazil, France, the United Kingdom and Russia, among other countries. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had initially been quiet on the issue, re-stated Germany's bid in her address to the UN General Assembly in September 2007. In July 2011, Merkel's trip to Kenya, Angola, and Nigeria was thought to be motivated, in part, by the goal of seeking support from African countries for Germany's bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council.


text: On 30 June 2021, UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab and his German counterpart Heiko Maas called in a joint statement for Germany to permanently join the United Nations Security Council, after outgoing German UN ambassador Christoph Heusgen said earlier in the day that needed to happen in order to reflect the shifting global power balance.


text: India, which joined the U.N. in 1945 (during the British Raj), two years before independence in 1947, is the second-largest and one of the largest constant contributors of troops to the United Nations peacekeeping missions. "Foreign Policy" magazine states that, "India's international identity has long been shaped by its role in U.N. peacekeeping, with more than 100,000 Indian troops having served in U.N. missions during the past 50 years. Today, India has over 8,500 peacekeepers in the field, more than twice as many as the U.N.'s five big powers combined." In November 2010, then US President Barack Obama publicly supported India's bid for a permanent seat, citing India's "long history as a leading contributor to United Nations peacekeeping missions". India has been elected eight times to the UN Security Council, most recently from 2021 to 2022 after receiving 184 of 192 votes.


text: The country currently has the world's second-largest population and is the world's largest liberal democracy. It is also the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and third-largest by purchasing power parity. Currently, India maintains the world's second-largest active armed force (after China) and is a nuclear-weapon state. The "International Herald Tribune" has stated: "Clearly, a seat for India would make the body more representative and democratic. With India as a member, the Council would be a more legitimate and thus a more effective body."


text: India's bid for permanent member of UNSC is now backed by four of the five permanent members, namely France, Russia, United Kingdom and United States. On 15 April 2011, China officially expressed its support for an increased Indian role at the United Nations, without explicitly endorsing India's Security Council ambitions. A few months later, China endorsed Indian candidacy as a permanent UNSC member provided that India revokes its support for Japanese candidacy.


text: As part of the G4 nations, India is supported by Brazil, Germany, and Japan for the permanent seat. Other countries that explicitly and openly support India for UNSC permanent seat are – Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Barbados, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Chile, Comoros, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Ghana, Greece, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Rwanda, Romania, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Serbia, Senegal, Seychelles, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, The Bahamas, The Gambia, Timor Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe. As a whole, the African Union also supports India's candidacy for permanent member of the UNSC.


text: Japan, which joined the UN in 1956, is the third-largest contributor to the UN's regular budget. Its payments had surpassed the sum of those of the United Kingdom, France, China and Russia combined for nearly two decades before 2010. Japan has been one of the largest Official development assistance donor countries. Thus, Japan, along with India, are considered the most likely candidates for two of the new permanent seats. China has stated that it was ready to support India's move for a permanent seat on the UNSC if India did not associate its bid with Japan. This may be contrary to the Indian stand since Japan and India are both members of the G4 and support each other's candidature. Japan has been elected to the Security Council for eleven terms as a non-permanent member.


text: While U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, speaking at Sophia University in Tokyo, said, "Japan has earned its honorable place among the nations of the world by its own effort and its own character. That's why the United States unambiguously supports a permanent seat for Japan on the United Nations Security Council." Her predecessor, Colin Powell, had objected to Japanese permanent membership because Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution forbids the country from going to war unless in self-defence. In May 2022, US president Joe Biden stated in a meeting with prime minister Fumio Kishida that “the United States will support Japan becoming a permanent member of a reformed security council”.


text: Some other Asian nations have expressed support for Japan's application, including Mongolia, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Vietnam—all major recipients of loan and/or foreign investment from Japan. The other G4 countries—Germany, Brazil, and India, who are also bidding for Security Council seats—along with France and the United Kingdom, also back Japan's bid. Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu support Japan since Japan agreed to increase financial aid to the region.


text: The UNSC "power of veto" is frequently cited as a major problem within the UN. By wielding their veto power (established by Chapter V of the United Nations Charter), any of the UNSC's five permanent members can prevent the adoption of any (non-"procedural") UNSC draft resolution not to their liking. Even the mere threat of a veto may lead to changes in the text of a resolution, or it being withheld altogether (the so-called "pocket veto"). As a result, the power of veto often prevents the council from acting to address pressing international issues and affords the "P5" great influence within the UN institution as a whole.


text: For example, the Security Council passed no resolutions on most major Cold War conflicts, including the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Vietnam War, and the Soviet–Afghan War. Resolutions addressing more current problems, such as the conflict between Israel and Palestine or Iran's suspected development of nuclear weapons, are also heavily influenced by the veto, whether its actual use or the threat of its use. Additionally, the veto applies to the selection of the UN's Secretary-General, as well as any amendments to the UN Charter, giving the P5 great influence over these processes. China has exercised its veto several times on India's resolutions to put Masood Azhar on a list of global terrorists. Azhar is the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed, which has been designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations.


text: Discussions on improving the UN's effectiveness and responsiveness to international security threats often include reform of the UNSC veto. Proposals include: limiting the use of the veto to vital national security issues; requiring agreement from multiple states before exercising the veto; abolishing the veto entirely; and embarking on the transition stipulated in Article 106 of the Charter, which requires the consensus principle to stay in place. Any reform of the veto will be very difficult. Articles 108 and 109 of the United Nations Charter grant the P5 veto over any amendments to the Charter, requiring them to approve of any modifications to the UNSC veto power that they themselves hold.


text: In 2013, France proposed self-regulation by the five permanent members of the Security Council to refrain from using it against taking action to stop mass atrocities.


text: As stated by then President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the General Debate of the 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly:


text: According to a formal statement by 13th Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh at the General Debate of the 59th Session of the United Nations General Assembly:


text: According to a formal statement by 14th Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at the General Debate of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly:


text: It also included the common letter send by G4 nations which demands concrete action on UNSC reforms. The process has lagged on for over a decade.


text: According to a formal statement by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at the General Debate of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly :


text: According to a formal statement by Foreign secretary of India Harsh Vardhan Shringla at UNSC high-level meeting on “Maintenance of international peace and security: upholding multilateralism and the United Nations-centered international system”:


text: According to a formal statement by Toshimitsu Motegi, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the High-level Meeting to Commemorate the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the United Nations:


text: According to a formal statement by Antanas Valionis, former Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the General Debate of the 58th session of the United Nations:


text: According to a formal statement by Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad at the General Debate of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly:


text: As stated by then–President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev at the General Debate of the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly:


text: According to a formal statement by South Africa's International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane speaking in the South African parliament in Cape Town:


text: According to a formal statement by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a recorded message to congratulate the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) on its 75th anniversary:


text: The United Kingdom and France hold similar views on reform to the United Nations Security Council. According to a formal statement made by 10 Downing Street:


text: According to a formal statement by US President Barack Obama in an address to a Joint Session of the Indian Parliament:


text: In 2022, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, ambassador to the UN, pledged that the United States would push to reform the UNSC so that it would "better reflect the current global realities and incorporate more geographically diverse perspectives."


title: Ria

text: A ria (; ) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea.


title: Ria

text: Typically rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they can be straight and without significant branches. This pattern is inherited from the dendritic drainage pattern of the flooded river valley. The drowning of river valleys along a stretch of coast and formation of rias results in an extremely irregular and indented coastline. Often, there are naturally occurring islands, which are summits of partly submerged, pre-existing hill peaks. (Islands may also be artificial, such as those constructed for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.)


title: Ria

text: A ria coast is a coastline having several parallel rias separated by prominent ridges, extending a distance inland. The sea level change that caused the submergence of a river valley may be either eustatic (where global sea levels rise), or isostatic (where the local land sinks). The result is often a very large estuary at the mouth of a relatively insignificant river (or else sediments would quickly fill the ria). The Kingsbridge Estuary in Devon, England, is an extreme example of a ria forming an estuary disproportionate to the size of its river; no significant river flows into it at all, only a number of small streams.


title: Ria

text: The word "ria" comes from Galician "ría", which is related to Spanish and Galician "río" and Portuguese "rio" (river). Rias are present all along the Galician coast in Spain. As originally defined, the term was restricted to drowned river valleys cut parallel to the structure of the country rock that was at right angles to the coastline. However the definition of ria was later expanded to other flooded river valleys regardless of the structure of the country rock.


title: Ria

text: For a time European geomorphologists considered rias to include any broad estuarine river mouth, including fjords. These are long narrow inlets with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity. In the 21st century, however, the preferred usage of "ria" by geologists and geomorphologists is to refer solely to drowned unglaciated river valleys. It therefore excludes fjords by definition, since fjords are products of glaciation.


title: Ria

text: The funnel-like shape of rias can amplify the effects of tsunamis, as demonstrated in the seismicity of the Sanriku coast, most recently in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.


title: Payphone

text: A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debit card, or a telephone card. Prepaid calling cards also facilitate establishing a call by first calling the provided toll-free telephone number, entering the card account number and PIN, then the desired telephone number. An equipment usage fee may be charged as additional units, minutes or tariff fee to the collect/third-party, debit, credit, telephone or prepaid calling card when used at payphones. By agreement with the landlord, either the phone company pays rent for the location and keeps the revenue, or the landlord pays rent for the phone and shares the revenue.


title: Payphone

text: Before the ubiquity of mobile phones, payphones were often found in public places to contribute to the notion of universal access to basic communication services. In the late 1920s, the cost of a payphone call in the United States was two cents. In the 1930s, calls were five cents. Early in the 21st century as payphones became rare, the price of a call was fifty cents. One thesis, written as early as 2003, recognized this as a digital divide problem.


title: Payphone

text: In the 20th century, payphones in some countries, such as Spain, used token coins, available for sale at a local retailer, to activate payphones, instead of legal tender coins. In some cases, these were upgraded to use magnetic cards or credit card readers over the years.


title: Payphone

text: Payphones were once ubiquitous worldwide, but their prevalence has declined significantly in the 21st century due to the increasing availability of mobile phones. New York City, which once had 30,000, removed its last public payphone in 2022. To preserve their memory, The Pay Phone Museum was created in 2015 as a digital museum for payphones.


title: Payphone

text: Most payphones in Canada are owned and operated by large telecom providers such as Bell, Telus, and SaskTel. In the last 20 years, customer-owned coin-operated telephones (COCOT) have also appeared in the market, but their numbers are smaller due to the emergence of mobile phones.


title: Payphone

text: The cost of most local payphone calls is 50 cents CAD, having increased from 25 cents since 2007. Payphones in Alberta were 35 cents for a time, but in most jurisdictions the price simply doubled. Newer phones allow users to use calling cards and credit cards. For coin-paid long distance, COCOTs are less expensive for short calls (typically $1 for three minutes) than incumbent providers (whose rates start near $5 for the first minute).


title: Payphone

text: The Toronto Transit Commission deploys payphones on all subway platforms as a safety precaution; a blue "Crisis Link" button on 141 payphones connects directly with Distress Centres of Canada as a free suicide prevention measure.


title: Payphone

text: In September 2015, the CRTC remarked that "32 percent of Canadians used a payphone at least once in the past year," and that they are used "as a last resort in times of inconvenience and emergency."


title: Payphone

text: The payphone model 23, introduced at Deutsche Bundespost Telekom in 1992, is an electronic software-controlled payphone for analog connections. It is equipped with coin, (), and integrated test program setting. It has a remote maintenance – the independent reports of a background system by means of an integrated modem error (for example, defects in components, lack of listeners), operating states (for example, full coin box), or departures (for example standing open the cartridge mounting door, missing coin).


title: Payphone

text: The Payphone 23 consists of two basic units, the equipment part including all the necessary for the operation modules (BG) and the secured below the growing payphone cassettes with the coin box.


title: Payphone

text: In Italy, public payphones have been installed and maintained over the years by Telecom Italia (formerly SIP).


title: Payphone

text: The majority of payphones on the street and in buildings in Japan are installed and maintained by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT).


title: Payphone

text: In the Soviet period, different types of payphones were produced. There were also long-distance call payphones costing 15 kopeks, and also provided services of paid media such as listening to an anecdote, obtaining legal advice, or finding the address of the subscriber by phone number. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the monetary reform of 1991, this form of payment became irrelevant. Some payphones were altered to accept tokens, while others have been designed to use telephone cards. For example, in St Petersburg, payment for payphones can be made with metro tokens. In some regions, calls from public phones are free of charge.


title: Payphone

text: Telephones were a monopoly of the national government in Spain. Payphones took a slug or "ficha", a piece of metal with two troughs in it, making it hard to counterfeit. Payphones were typically found in bars, restaurants, and stores, never freestanding. Phones would accept some 5 "fichas" at a time (the exact number varied depending on phone model), showing through a plastic window the number remaining, and return unused ones to the customer.


title: Payphone

text: An older and simpler system was to use a mechanical counter, which automatically counted units of time, called "pasos", a "pass" in the sense of "passage of time". The counter was the "marcador de pasos". The length of each "paso" varied depending on the cost (distance) of the call. At the conclusion of a call the number of "pasos" was multiplied by a fixed amount, which could vary by time of day, creating a sum total that the customer would pay to a human attendant. This system survived in small hotels at least until the 1970s.


title: Payphone

text: Spain also had an institution with no equivalent in the United States, the "locutorio", literally "place where one talks". They were a type of store, in the main square of a town or close to it, where one booked a phone call by going to a counter, filling out a paper slip, and handing it to a person (almost always a female). Sometimes advance payment was required (unused minutes refunded). The recipient of the slip would either directly or indirectly, depending on the equipment, make the call and send the customer to a phone booth with a dialless instrument on which to speak. In communities too small to support a "locutorio" this service might be offered by businesses with telephones, such as pharmacies. "Locutorios" disappeared in the last quarter of the 20th century, as the whole country moved to direct distance dialing and cell phones (in Spanish "mobile phones") grew.


title: Payphone

text: In the UK, payphones have been deregulated. The great majority of them are still operated by British Telecom (BT) but other providers exist, mostly in urban areas. Hull, Manchester, London, Cardiff and Glasgow, at the turn of the 21st century, have a greater concentration of non-BT payphones, since BT has been removing payphones which are unprofitable in terms of having few or no calls made in a financial year.


title: Payphone

text: BT allows local communities to adopt the iconic Red K6 Kiosks due to strong opposition to their removal from the communities that the kiosks reside in. This will mean the removal of the phone, leaving the empty kiosk in-situ.


title: Payphone

text: Another option BT has provided is the sponsored kiosk, that will retain the phone service, and retain the kiosk for an annual fee of around £300 excluding VAT, whether it is the Red K6 or the newer aluminium and glass kiosks that cannot be adopted.


title: Payphone

text: Due to disability discrimination law, specifically the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, in the past payphone providers were required to provide a certain number of textphone payphones as part of their network, as this was deemed a "reasonable adjustment" for deaf customers. These phones can also make voice calls, as well as send SMS and e-mail messages, and although this requirement is no longer in force due to minimal use of the textphone feature in these phones, many of these devices remain in service, generally in populated areas.


title: Payphone

text: In addition, in the early 2000s BT installed a large number of 'Multiphones' that provided internet access, on top of voice, SMS, and e-mail functionality. These payphones provided these services through the use of a 2-channel ISDN2 connection, a QNX-based operating system, and a touchscreen interface to allow the user to browse websites and receive e-mail messages on a pay-per-minute basis. However, these devices have since been removed due to quickly becoming obsolete, often with the ordinary payphone previously installed in that location taking its place once again.


title: Payphone

text: From 1 June 2010, BT payphones have a £0.60 minimum charge which is for the first 30 minutes of any direct-dialled national geographic call. Previously the minimum charge was £0.40 for the first 20 minutes of any direct-dialled national geographic call. Then before November 2006 the minimum charge was £0.30, before 2004 it was £0.20 and before 2000 it was £0.10. Credit/debit cards can also be used, and many BT payphones have card readers for this service; however, calls made using a card are charged at a significantly higher rate than calls made using cash.


title: Payphone

text: BT Phonecards were introduced in 1981 and could be used in most BT payphones to pay for calls. Purchased from participating retailers, and originally using an optical system to register credit, the design was changed to a chip-based system in the 1990s, before being withdrawn altogether in 2003.


title: Payphone

text: In the past, a BT Chargecard could be used from any UK landline to charge any telephone calls made to the cardholder's BT home telephone account, at no cost to the owner of the landline the card was being used from. These were most commonly used in payphones, and some BT payphones have dedicated readers for these cards. However, this service has since been discontinued. Other cards which are often used instead include supermarket international calling cards and many other telephone cards which can be bought from newsagents.


title: Payphone

text: Although 0800 and 0808 numbers are free to the caller when dialled from most payphones, the owner of the number will be billed a 'Payphone Access Charge' (PAC) which has increased significantly in recent years, and is currently £0.79 per minute, if their number is called from a payphone. This has resulted in many businesses, and even calling card providers, barring calls to their freephone numbers originating from payphones. Charity helplines are exempt from this charge if called from a BT payphone, however this exemption does not apply to calls made from payphones owned by other providers, and in these cases the charity will still have to pay the PAC.


title: Payphone

text: There is a £0.40 connection charge, in addition to the "per minute" charges shown below, and a minimum charge of £0.60. Some payphones also offer SMS and e-mail service, both of which are charged at £0.20 per message, and must be paid for using cash.


title: Payphone

text: Payphones were preceded by pay stations, staffed by telephone company attendants who would collect rapid payment for calls placed. The Connecticut Telephone Co. reportedly had a payphone in their New Haven office beginning 1 June 1880; the fee was handed to an attendant. In 1889, a public telephone with a coin-pay mechanism was installed at the Hartford Bank in Hartford, Connecticut, by the Southern New England Telephone Co. It was a "post-pay" machine; coins were inserted at the end of a conversation. The coin mechanism was invented by William Gray; he was issued a series of patents for his devices, beginning with issued 23 June 1891 for a "Signal Device for Telephone Pay-Stations" which rang a bell for each coin inserted. He subsequently founded the Telephone Pay Station Co. in 1891. The "pre-pay" phone debuted in Chicago in 1898.


title: Payphone

text: By 1902, there were 81,000 payphones in the United States. By 1905, the first outdoor payphones with booths were installed. By the end of 1925, 25,000 of these booths existed in New York City alone. In 1960, the Bell System installed its one millionth telephone booth. Booths, which were expensive, gradually faded away not much later.


title: Payphone

text: The Bell System payphone took nickels (5¢), dimes (10¢), and quarters (25¢); a strip of metal along the top had holes the size of each coin. This made possible a mechanism causing each coin to make a different series of sounds as it fell into the cash box; thus an operator listening could tell how much had been inserted.


title: Payphone

text: On average, payphone calls generally cost 5¢ into the 1950s and 10¢ until the mid-1980s. Rates standardized at 25¢ during the mid-1980s to early 1990s. The Bell System was required to apply for increases through state public service commissions. Therefore, the actual increases took effect at different times in different locations.


title: Payphone

text: After the breakup of the Bell System in 1984, it was not long before independent stores selling telephones opened up. After that, privately owned payphones hit the market. Sources differ as to whether the peak number of payphones in the United States was 2.6 million in 1995 or 2.2 million in 2000. Since 2007, the number of payphones in the United States in operation has declined by 48%. In July 2009, AT&T officially stopped supporting the Public Payphone service. Over 139,000 locations were sold in 2009. At the end of 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reported the number of payphones at 243,487 generating $362 million – falling to $286 million by 2015. The major carriers, AT&T and Verizon, have both exited the business, leaving the market to be served by independent payphone companies. In 2018, it was estimated 100,000 payphones remained in the U.S., with roughly a fifth of them located in New York. Four years later, NYC removed its last public one, though some private pay phones still exist on public property, along with four full-length booths still standing in the Upper West Side (as of May 2022).


title: Payphone

text: In recent years, deregulation in the United States has allowed payphone service provided by a variety of companies. Such telephones are called "customer-owned coin-operated telephones" (COCOT), and are mostly kept in as good condition as compared with a payphone owned and operated by the local telephone company. COCOT contracts are usually more generous to the landlord than telecom ones, hence telecom payphones on private premises have been more often replaced than street phones. One common implementation is operated by vending machine companies and contains a hard-wired list of non-toll telephone exchanges to which it will complete calls.


title: Payphone

text: In the United States, a payphone operator collects an FCC-mandated fee of 49.4¢ from the owner of a toll-free number for each call successfully placed to that number from the payphone. This results in many toll-free numbers rejecting calls from payphones in an attempt to avoid this surcharge; calling cards, which require the caller to dial through a toll-free number, will often pass this surcharge back to the caller, either as a separate itemized charge, a 50¢ to 90¢ increase in the price of the call, or (in the case of many prepaid calling cards) the deduction of an extra number of minutes from the balance of the prepaid card.


title: Payphone

text: "Dead-heads" may have influenced the development of the payphone. Dead-heads were non-subscriber users that made a call at a place of business and did not pay for the call. The Wisconsin Telephone Company in 1893, for example, attempted to put an end to this practice by implementing ten-cent coin slots so that users had to pay for the call. The idea behind this was to reduce the financial stress a smaller business may face from having dead-heads.


title: Payphone

text: In the Superman comic books and live-action films, Clark Kent routinely uses a phone booth to change into his Superman costume. Similarly, Underdog also changes into his costume from a shoe-shine vendor using a phone booth; this results, however, in the total destruction of the booth and phone set.


title: Payphone

text: The 1978 "Superman" film pays a humorous homage to this trope by having Superman pause by one of the smaller telephone kiosks more common at that time and glance at it, before running off to change his outfit off-screen.


title: Payphone

text: The opening sequence of the television show "Get Smart" features a telephone booth as the last in a series of obstacles guarding the Control entrance. Maxwell Smart steps into the payphone, closes the door, dials a number, and the telephone booth floor descends out of sight. This use of a payphone booth is particularly ironic since no member of the public would be able to access it in any case, and Smart himself commonly uses a mobile phone in his shoe.


title: Payphone

text: In the 1969 "The Brady Bunch" episode "Sorry, Right Number", Mike Brady installs a (boothless) payphone in his home, after his children run up a large phone bill. He gets the suggestion from his maid Alice, whose boyfriend Sam had a payphone installed in his butcher shop after losing profits to "dead-head" customers. He gives his children extra allowance for two calls per day – any further calls they would have to pay out of their own regular allowance. However, he is later forced to make a business deal over the same payphone, and almost sabotages it when his prepaid 10¢ runs out and makes the customer question his company's financial stability. However, he manages to clinch the deal, and also manages to give the phone away to the customer, who is having his own problems with phoneaholic teenagers.


title: Payphone

text: The 1986 film "Jumpin' Jack Flash" features Whoopi Goldberg's character being abducted while in a phone booth by picking up the booth itself with a tow truck and dragging it through Manhattan streets.


title: Payphone

text: In the "Harry Potter" books – and the films – there is a red telephone box outside the Ministry of Magic that wizards use to access the Ministry. From the phone box, one must dial ‘62442’ and the phone booth acts as a lift, taking visitors down underneath the ground to the Ministry.


title: Payphone

text: A payphone booth is used as a time machine in the "Bill & Ted" film franchise, starting with "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989).


title: Payphone

text: The 2002 film "Phone Booth" takes place in a phone booth. The main character is held hostage in it for a whole day. He has been using the payphone to call his mistress so that his wife will not see the telephone number on their cellular telephone bill.


title: Payphone

text: A Mojave phone booth in an isolated area of the Mojave National Preserve miles from the paved road was the subject of an Internet meme and a 2006 independent film, "Mojave Phone Booth". The original Pacific Bell booth was removed in 2000; for nostalgia, Lucky225 assigned its number (1-760-733-9969) to an open conference bridge in 2013.


title: Payphone

text: Popular pop song "Payphone" by the band Maroon 5, featuring Wiz Khalifa, released on their fourth studio album "Overexposed".


title: Payphone

text: The small town of Beggs, Oklahoma attracted national attention in the late 1970s when public payphones offering calls for only five cents had been essentially phased out across the country, but Beggs still had one. As of 2020, Beggs still has a nickel payphone, maintained in front of the Beggs Telephone Company office.


title: Payphone

text: In "The Dresden Files" book series, the titular character relies on older technology, including payphones, due to his magical powers interfering with more modern electronics (such as cellular phones).


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven () is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico. It is situated on top of the former Aztec sacred precinct near the Templo Mayor on the northern side of the Plaza de la Constitución (Zócalo) in the historic center of Mexico City. The cathedral was built in sections from 1573 to 1813 around the original church that was constructed soon after the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan, eventually replacing it entirely. Spanish architect Claudio de Arciniega planned the construction, drawing inspiration from Gothic cathedrals in Spain.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: Due to the long time it took to build it, just under 250 years, virtually all the main architects, painters, sculptors, gilding masters and other plastic artists of the viceroyalty worked at some point in the construction of the enclosure. The long construction time also led to the integration of a number of architectural styles in its design, including the Gothic, Baroque, Churrigueresque, Neoclassical styles, as they came into vogue over the centuries. It furthermore allowed the cathedral to include different ornaments, paintings, sculptures and furniture in its interior. The project was a point of social cohesion, because it involved so many generations and social classes, including ecclesiastical authorities, government authorities, and different religious orders.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The influence of the Catholic Church on public life has meant that the building was often the scene of historically significant events in New Spain and independent Mexico. These include the coronation of Agustín de Iturbide and Ana María Huarte as emperors of Mexico by the President of the Congress; the preservation of the funeral remains of the aforementioned emperor; burial, until 1925, of several of the independence heroes, such as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and José María Morelos; the disputes between liberals and conservatives caused by the separation of the church and the state in the Reform; the closure of the building in the days of the Cristero War; and the celebrations of the bicentennial of independence, among others.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The cathedral faces south. It is approximately wide by long, with a height of to the tip of the towers. It consists of two bell towers, a central dome, and three main portals. It has four façades which contain portals flanked with columns and statues. It has five naves consisting of 51 vaults, 74 arches and 40 columns. The two bell towers contain 25 bells. The tabernacle, adjacent to the cathedral, contains the baptistery and serves to register the parishioners. There are five large, ornate altars, a sacristy, a choir, a choir area, a corridor and a capitulary room. Fourteen of the cathedral's sixteen chapels are open to the public. Each chapel is dedicated to a different saint or saints, and each was sponsored by a religious guild. The chapels contain ornate altars, altarpieces, retablos, paintings, furniture and sculptures. The cathedral is home to two of the largest 18th-century organs in the Americas. There is a crypt underneath the cathedral that holds the remains of many former archbishops. The cathedral has approximately 150 windows.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: Over the centuries, the cathedral has suffered damage. A fire in 1967 destroyed a significant part of the cathedral's interior. The restoration work that followed uncovered a number of important documents and artwork that had previously been hidden. Although a solid foundation was built for the cathedral, the soft clay soil it is built on has been a threat to its structural integrity. Dropping water tables and accelerated sinking caused the structure to be added to the World Monuments Fund list of the 100 Most Endangered Sites. Restoration working beginning in the 1990s stabilized the cathedral and it was removed from the endangered list in 2000.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and after Hernán Cortés returned from exploring what is today Honduras, the conquistadors decided to build a church on the site of the Templo Mayor of the Aztec City of Tenochtitlan in order to consolidate Spanish power over the newly conquered territory. There is evidence of the existence of a great major temple dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl, a temple dedicated to the god Huītzilōpōchtli and other minor buildings. The architect Martín de Sepúlveda was the first director of the project between 1524 and 1532, while Juan de Zumárraga was the first bishop of the episcopal see in the New World. The cathedral of Zumárraga was located in the northeastern part of what is now the cathedral. It had three naves separated by Tuscan columns, the central ceiling had intricate engravings made by Juan Salcedo Espinosa and gilded by Francisco de Zumaya and Andrés de la Concha. The main door was probably Renaissance style. The choir had 48 ceremonial chairs made by hand by Adrián Suster and Juan Montaño in "pinus ayacahuite" wood. For the construction, they used the stones of the destroyed temple of the god Huītzilōpōchtli, god of war and principal deity of the Aztecs. In spite of everything, this temple was soon considered insufficient for the growing importance of the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This first church was elevated to a cathedral by King Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Pope Clement VII according to the bull of 9 September 1534 and, later, named Metropolitan by Pope Paul III in 1547.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: This small, poor church, vilified by all the chroniclers who judged it unworthy of such famous new city, rendered its services well that badly for long years. Soon it was ordered that a new temple be erected, proportionate sumptuousness to the greatness of the colony more, but this new factory encountered so many obstacles for its beginning, with so many difficulties for its continuation, that the old cathedral saw passing in its narrow sumptuous ceremonies of the viceroyalty; and only when the fact that motivated them was of great importance would he prefer another church, like that of San Francisco, to raise in its huge chapel of San José de los Indios the burial mound for the funeral ceremonies of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: Seeing that the conclusion of the new church was long, its factory was already beginning, in 1584 it was decided to completely repair the Old Cathedral, which would certainly be little less than ruinous, to celebrate in it the Third Mexican Provincial Council.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The church was a little longer than the front of the new cathedral; its three naves were not 30 meters wide and were covered, the central one with a step-scissors armour, those on the sides with horizontal beams. In addition to the puerta del Perdón door had another call puerta de los Canónigos door, and perhaps a third was left to the Placeta del Marqués. Years later, the cathedral was small for its function. In 1544, the ecclesiastical authorities had already ordered the construction of a new and more sumptuous cathedral.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: In 1552, an agreement was reached whereby the cost of the new cathedral would be shared by the Spanish Crown, the Comendadores and the Indians under the direct authority of the Archbishop of New Spain. The initial plans for the foundation of the new cathedral began in 1562, as part of the project for the construction of the work, then archbishop Alonso de Montúfar would have proposed a monumental construction composed of seven naves and based on the design of the Seville Cathedral; a project that, according to Montúfar himself, would take 10 or 12 years. The weight of a work of such dimensions in a subsoil of swampy origin would require a special foundation. Initially, cross beams were placed to build a platform, which required high costs and constant draining, in the end this project would be abandoned not only for the aforementioned cost, but for the floods suffered by the city center. It is then that, supported by indigenous techniques, solid wooden logs are injected at great depth, about twenty thousand of these logs in an area of six thousand square meters. The project is reduced from the original seven naves to only five: one central, two processional and two lateral for the 16 chapels. The construction began with the designs and models created by Claudio de Arciniega and Juan Miguel de Agüero, inspired by the Spanish cathedrals of Jaén and Valladolid.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: In 1571, with some delay, the viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almanza and the archbishop Pedro Moya de Contreras placed the first stone of the present church. The cathedral began to be built in 1573 around the existing church which was demolished when the works advanced sufficiently to house the basic functions of the church.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The work began with a north–south orientation, contrary to that of most cathedrals, due to the waterfalls of the subsoil that would affect the building with a traditional east–west orientation, decision taken 1570. First the chapter house and the sacristy were built; the construction of the vaults and the naves took a hundred years.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The beginning of the works was met with a muddy and unstable terrain that complicated the works, because of this, the Tezontle and the Chiluca Stone were favored as building materials in several areas, on the quarry, as these are lighter. In 1581, the walls began to be erected and in 1585 the works began in the first chapel, at that time the names of the stonemasons who worked on the work were: in the chapels were carved by Juan Arteaga and the niches Hernán García de Villaverde, who also worked on the Toral pillars whose mediums were sculpted by Martín Casillas. In 1615, the walls reached half its total height. The works of the interior began in 1623 by the sacristy, and the early church was demolished at its conclusion. What is now the vestry was where Mass was conducted after the first church was finally torn down. On the 21st September 1629, the works were interrupted by the flood suffered by the city, in which the water reached two meters in height, causing damage in the main square, today called Plaza del Zócalo, and other parts of the city. Due to the damage, a project was started to build the new cathedral in the Tacubaya hills, west of the city but the idea was discarded and the project continued at the same location, under the direction of Juan Gómez de Trasmonte, the interior was finished and consecrated in 1667.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The archbishop Marcos Ramírez de Prado y Ovando made the second dedication on 22 December 1667, the year in which the last vault was closed. The date of consecration, (lacking, at that time, of bell towers, main façade and other elements built in the 18th century), the cost of construction was equivalent to 1 759 000 pesos. This cost was covered in good part by the Spanish kings Philip II, Philip III, Philip IV and Charles II. Annexes to the central core of the building would be added over the years the Seminary College, the Chapel of the Animas, and the buildings of the Tabernacle and the Curia.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: In 1675, the central part of the main façade was completed, the work of the architect Cristóbal de Medina Vargas, which included the figure of the Assumption of Mary, the title to which the cathedral is dedicated, and the sculptures of James the Great and Andrew the Apostle guarding it. During the remainder of the 17th century, the first body of the east tower was built, by the architects Juan Lozano and Juan Serrano. The main portal of the building and portals on the east side were built in 1688 and that of the west in 1689. The six buttresses that support the structure on the side of its main facade and the bottoms that support the vaults of the main nave were completed.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: During the 18th century little was done to advance in the completion of the construction of the cathedral; largely because, now completed in its interior, and handy for all the ceremonies that were offered, there had not the urgent need to continue working on what was missing.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: Although the work had in fact been suspended, some works in the interior continued; by 1737 it was the master builder Domingo de Arrieta. He made, in the company of José Eduardo de Herrera, master of architecture, the stands that surround the choir. In 1742 Manuel de Álvarez, master of architecture, ruled with Herrera himself about the presbytery project presented by Jerónimo de Balbás.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: In 1752, on 17 September, a cross of iron, with more than three varas, with its vane, was placed on the crown of the lantern tower of this church, engraved on one side and on the other side the prayer of the Sanctus Deus, and in the middle of it a fourth-by-fourth oval, in which a wax of Agnus was placed on one side with its window and on the other side a sheet in which Saint Prisca, lawyer of the rays, was sculpted. The ear of the cross is of two varas, and all its weight is of fourteen arrobas; it is nailed to a quarry base.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: In 1787, the architect José Damián Ortiz de Castro was appointed, after a competition in which it imposed the projects of José Joaquín García de Torres and Isidro Vicente de Balbás, to direct the construction works of the bell towers, the main facade and the dome. For the construction of the towers, the Mexican architect Ortiz de Castro designed a project to make them effective against earthquakes; a second body that looks piercing and a bell-shaped finishing. His direction in the project continued until his death in 1793. When he was replaced by Manuel Tolsá, architect and sculptor driver of the Neoclassical, who arrived in the country in 1791. Tolsá is in charge of completing the work of the cathedral. He reconstructs the dome that was low and disproportionate, designs a project that consists of opening a larger ring on which builds a circular platform, to lift from there a much higher roof lantern. Integrates the torches, statues and balustrades. He crown the facade with figures symbolizing the three theological virtues (faith, hope and charity).


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The main facade of the cathedral faces south. The main portal is centered in the main facade and is the highest of the cathedral's three portals. Statues of Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle stand between the columns of the portal, while Saint Andrew and James the Just are depicted on the secondary doorway. In the center of this doorway is a high relief of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, to whom the cathedral is dedicated. This image is flanked by images of Saint Matthew and Saint Andrew. The coat of arms of Mexico is above the doorway, with the eagle's wings outstretched. There is a clock tower at the very top of the portal with statues representing Faith, Hope and Charity, which was created by sculptor Manuel Tolsá.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The west facade was constructed in 1688 and rebuilt in 1804. It has a three-section portal with images of the Four Evangelists. The west portal has high reliefs depicting Jesus handing the Keys of Heaven to Saint Peter.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The east facade is similar to the west facade. The reliefs on the east portal show a ship carrying the four apostles, with Saint Peter at the helm. The title of this relief is "The ship of the Church sailing the seas of Eternity."


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The northern facade, built during the 16th century in the Renaissance Herrera style, is oldest part of the cathedral and was named after Juan de Herrera, architect of the El Escorial monastery in Spain. While the eastern and western facades are older than most of the rest of the building, their third level has Solomonic columns which are associated with the Baroque period.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: All the high reliefs of the portals of the cathedral were inspired by the work of Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The bell towers are the work of Xalapan artist José Damián Ortiz de Castro. They are capped with bell-shaped roofs made of tezontle covered in "chiluca", a white stone. Ortiz de Castro was in charge of the cathedral's construction in the latter half of the 18th century until he died, unexpectedly. Manuel Tolsá of Valencia, who had built other notable buildings in Mexico City, was hired to finish the cathedral. At this point, the cathedral had already been 240 years in the making. He added the neo-Classic structure housing the clock, the statues of the three theological virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity), the high balustrade surrounding the building, and the dome that rises over the transept.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The cathedral has 25 bells—eighteen hang in the east bell tower and seven in the west tower. The largest bell is named the "Santa Maria de Guadalupe" and weighs around . Other major bells are named the "Doña Maria", which weighs , and "La Ronca" ("the hoarse one"), named so because of its harsh tone. Doña Maria and La Ronca were placed in 1653 while the largest bell was placed later in 1793.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The statues in the west tower are the work of José Zacarías Cora and represent Pope Gregory VII, Saint Augustine, Leander of Seville, St. Fulgentius of Écija, St.Francis Xavier, and Saint Barbara. The statues in the east tower are by Santiago Cristóbal Sandoval and depict Emilio, Rose of Lima, Mary (mother of Jesus), Ambrogio, Jerome, Philip of Jesus, Hippolytus of Rome, and Isidore the Laborer.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: In 1947, a novice bell ringer died in an accident when he tried to move one of the bells while standing under it. The bell swung back and hit him in the head, killing him instantly. The bell was then "punished" by removing the clapper. In the following years, the bell was known as "la castigada" ("the punished one"), or "la muda" ("the mute one"). In 2000, the clapper was reinstalled in the bell.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: In October 2007, a time capsule was found inside the stone ball base of a cross, in the southern bell tower of the cathedral. It was placed in 1742, supposedly to protect the building from harm. The lead box was filled with religious artifacts, coins and parchments and hidden in a hollow stone ball. The ball was marked with the date of 14 May 1791, when the building's topmost stone was laid. A new time capsule will be placed in the stone ball when it is closed again.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: Situated to the right of the main cathedral, the Metropolitan Tabernacle (Spanish: "Sagrario Metropolitano") was built by Lorenzo Rodríguez during the height of the Baroque period between 1749 and 1760, to house the archives and vestments of the archbishop. It also functioned and continues to function as a place to receive Eucharist and register parishioners.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The first church built on the cathedral site also had a tabernacle, but its exact location is unknown. During the construction of the cathedral, the tabernacle was housed in what are now the Chapels of San Isidro and Our Lady of Agony of Granada. However, in the 18th century, it was decided to build a structure that was separate, but still connected, to the main cathedral. It is constructed of "tezontle" (a reddish porous volcanic rock) and white stone in the shape of a Greek cross with its southern facade faces the Zócalo. It is connected to the main cathedral via the Chapel of San Isidro.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The interiors of each wing have separate uses. In the west wing is the baptistry, in the north is the main altar, the main entrance and a notary area, separated by inside corner walls made of "chiluca" stone and tezontle. Chiluca, a white stone, covers the walls and floors and the tezontle frames the doors and windows. At the crossing of the structure is an octagonal dome framed by arches that form curved triangles where they meet at the top of the dome. The principal altar is in the ornate "Churrigueresque" style and crafted by indigenous artist Pedro Patiño Ixtolinque. It was inaugurated in 1829.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The exterior of the Baroque styled tabernacle is almost entirely adorned with decorations, such as curiously shaped niche shelves, floating drapes and many cherubs. Carvings of fruits such as grapes and pomegranates have been created to in the shape of ritual offerings, symbolizing the Blood of Christ and the Church. Among the floral elements, roses, daisies, and various types of four-petalled flowers can be found, including the indigenous "chalchihuite".


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The tabernacle has two main outside entrances; one to the south, facing the Zócalo and the other facing east toward Seminario Street. The southern façade is more richly decorated than the east façade. It has a theme of glorifying the Eucharist with images of the Apostles, Church Fathers, saints who founded religious orders, martyrs as well as scenes from the Bible. Zoomorphic reliefs can be found along with the anthropologic reliefs, including a rampaging lion, and the eagle from the coat of arms of Mexico. The east facade is less ambitious, but contains figures from the Old Testament as well as the images of John Nepomucene and Ignacio de Loyola. Construction dates for the phases of the tabernacle are also inscribed here.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: This disappeared in the 1940s. In 2000, a new altar table was made to replace the previous one. This was built in modernist style by the architect Ernesto Gómez Gallardo.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Altar of Forgiveness () is located at the front of the central nave. It is the first aspect of the interior that is seen upon entering the cathedral. It was the work of Spanish architect Jerónimo de Balbás, and represents the first use of the "estípite" column (an inverted triangle-shaped pilaster) in the Americas.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: There are two stories about how the name of this altar came about. The first states that those condemned by the Spanish Inquisition were brought to the altar to ask for forgiveness in the next world before their execution. The second relates to painter Simon Pereyns, who despite being the author of many of the works of the cathedral, was accused of blasphemy. According to the story, while Pereyns was in jail, he painted such a beautiful image of the Virgin Mary that his crime was forgiven.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: In New Spain, it was customary to dedicate the main chapel of any Spanish cathedral to the ruling king, giving it the greatest importance and artistic wealth. The Altar of the Kings () was also the work of , in Mexican Baroque or Churrigueresque style. Balbás constructed it in cedar from 1718 to 1725. It was gilded and finished by Francico Martínez in 1736 and completed in 1737. It is located at the back of the cathedral, beyond the Altar of Forgiveness and the choir, a space known as "royal chapel", although it does not have any grille that delimits and closes the space in the manner of similar chapels. This altar is wide, tall and deep, so it presides over the main nave of the temple because it is located behind the presbytery. There are three main vertical bodies formed by high estipite pilasters. Its size and depth gave rise to the nickname "la cueva dorada" ("the golden cave").


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: Additional sculptures were created by Sebastián de Santiago. It takes its name from the statues of saintly royalty which form part of its decoration, and is the oldest work in churrigueresque style in Mexico, taking 19 years to complete. At the bottom, from left to right, are six female royal saints: Saint Margaret of Scotland, Helena of Constantinople, Elisabeth of Hungary, Elizabeth of Aragon, Empress Cunegunda and Edith of Wilton. In the middle of the altar are six canonized kings: Hermenegild, a Visigoth martyr; Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor; Edward the Confessor; and Casimir of Poland below, and Saints Louis of France and Ferdinand III of Castile above them. In between these kings an oil painting of the "Adoration of the Magi" by Juan Rodriguez Juarez shows Jesus as the "King of kings". The top portion features a painting of the "Assumption of Mary" as celestial queen flanked by oval bas reliefs, one of Saint Joseph carrying the infant Jesus and the other of Saint Teresa of Ávila with a quill in her hand and the Holy Spirit above her, inspiring her to write. In the upper part above this, there are angels carrying the attributes of the Virgin Mary such as the Sealed Fountain, the House of Gold, the Well of Living Water, and the Tower of David, and at the top is an image of God, the Father.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Herrera door opens into the sacristy, the oldest part of the cathedral. It is a mixture of Renaissance and Gothic styles.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The walls hold large canvases painted by Cristóbal de Villalpando, such as "The Apotheosis of Saint Michael", "The Triumph of the Eucharist", "The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant", and "The Virgin of the Apocalypse". The "Virgin of the Apocalypse" depicts the vision of John of Patmos. Two other canvases, "Entering Jerusalem" and "The Assumption of the Virgin", painted by Juan Correa, are also here. An additional painting, attributed to Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, hangs in the Sacristy.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: On the north wall, there is a niche that holds a statue of the crucifix with a Christ image sculpted in ivory. Behind this, is another mural that depicts the Juan Diego's of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Sacristy used to house Juan Diego's cloak, upon which the Virgin's image purportedly appears, but after massive flooding in 1629, it was removed from the Sacristy to better protect it.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: A cabinet on the west wall of the Sacristy, under the "Virgin of the Apocalypse" painting, once held golden chalices and cups trimmed with precious stones, as well as other utensils.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: In 1957, The wooden floor and platform around the perimeter of the Sacristy were replaced with stone.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The cathedral's sixteen chapels were each assigned to a religious guild, and each is dedicated to a saint. Each of the two side naves contain seven chapels. The other two were created later on the eastern and western sides of the cathedral. These last two are not open to the public. The fourteen chapels in the east and west naves are listed below. The first seven are in the east nave, listed from north to south, and the last seven are in the west nave.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Our Lady of the Agonies of Granada () was built in the first half of the 17th century and originally served as the sacristy. It is a medieval-style chapel with a ribbed vault and two relatively simple altarpieces. The narrow altarpiece contains an oval painting of "Saint Raphael, Archangel and the young Tobias", a 16th century painting attributed to Flemish painter Maerten de Vos. At the top of this altarpiece is a painting of "Our Lady of Mount Carmel", and above this is a painting of the "Last Supper". At the back of the chapel is a churrigueresque painting of "Our Lady of the Agonies of Granada".


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Saint Isidore () was originally built as an annex between 1624 and 1627, and was once used as the baptistery. Its vault contains plaster casts representing Faith, Hope, Charity, and Justice, considered to be basic values in the Catholic religion. After the Tabernacle was built, it was converted into a chapel and its door was reworked in a churrigueresque style.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of the Immaculate Conception () was built between 1642 and 1648. It has a churrigueresque altarpiece which, due to the lack of columns, most likely dates from the 18th century. The altar is framed with molding—instead of columns—and a painting of the Immaculate Conception presides over it. The altar is surrounded by paintings by José de Ibarra relating to the Passion of Christ and various saints. The chapel also contains a canvas of Saint Christopher painted by Simon Pereyns in 1588, and the "Flagellation" by Baltasar de Echave Orio, painted in 1618. The altarpiece on the right side is also dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and was donated by the College of Saints Peter and Paul. This chapel holds the remains of Franciscan friar Antonio Margil de Jesús who was evangelized in what is now the north of Mexico.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe () was built in 1660. It was the first baptistery of the cathedral and for a long time was the site for the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Sacrament, which had many powerful benefactors. It is decorated in a 19th century neo-classic style by the architect Antonio Gonzalez Vazquez, director of the Academy of San Carlos. The main altarpiece is dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe and the sides altars are dedicated to John the Baptist and San Luis Gonzaga.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Our Lady of Antigua () was sponsored and built between 1653 and 1660 by a brotherhood of musicians and organists, which promoted devotion to this Virgin. Its altarpiece contains a painting of the Virgin, a copy of one found in the Cathedral of Seville. This copy was brought to New Spain by a merchant. Two other paintings show the birth of the Virgin and her presentation. Both were painted by Nicolás Rodriguez Juárez.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Saint Peter () was built between 1615 and 1620, and contains three highly decorated Baroque altarpieces from the 17th century. The altar at the back is dedicated to Saint Peter, whose sculpture presides over the altar. It is surrounded by early 17th century paintings relating to his life, painted by Baltasar de Echave Orio. To the right is an altarpiece dedicated to the Holy Family, with two paintings by Juan de Aguilera of Florence called "The Holy Family in the workshop of Saint Joseph" and "Birth of the Savior". The altarpiece to the left of the main altarpiece is dedicated to Saint Theresa of Jesus whose image also appears in the chapel's window. It includes four paintings on sheets of metal that depict scenes from the birth of Jesus. Five oil paintings illustrate scenes from the life of Saint Theresa, and above this is a semi-circular painting of the coronation of Mary. All these works were created in the 17th century by Baltasar de Echave y Rioja.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: This chapel is home to the Niño Cautivo (Captive Child) a Child Jesus figure that was brought to Mexico from Spain. It was sculpted in the 16th century by Juan Martínez Montañez in Spain and purchased by the cathedral. However, on its way to Veracruz, pirates attacked the ship it was on and sacked it. To get the image back, a large ransom was paid. Today, the image is in the Chapel of San Pedro or De las Reliquias. Traditionally, the image has been petitioned by those seeking release from restrictions or traps, especially financial problems or drug addiction or alcoholism. The cult to the Niño Cautivo is considered to be "inactive" by INAH. However, this particular image has made a comeback since 2000 as one to petition when a family member is abducted and held for ransom.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Christ and of the Reliquaries () was built in 1615 and designed with ultra-Baroque details which are often difficult to see in the poorly lit interior. It was originally known as the "Christ of the Conquistadors". That name came from an image of Christ that was supposedly donated to the cathedral by Emperor Charles V. Over time, so many reliquaries were left on its main altar that its name was eventually changed. Of 17th century ornamentation, the main altarpiece alternates between carvings of rich foliage and small heads on its columns in the main portion and small sculptures of angels on its telamons in the secondary portion. Its niches hold sculptures of saints framing the main body. Its crucifix is from the 17th century. The predella is finished with sculptures of angels, and also contains small 17th paintings of martyred saints by Juan de Herrera. Behind these paintings, hidden compartments contain some of the numerous reliquaries left here. Its main painting was done by Jose de Ibarra and dated 1737. Surrounding the altar is a series of paintings on canvas, depicting the "Passion of Christ" by Jose Villegas, painted in the 17th century. On the right-hand wall, an altar dedicated to the Virgin of the Confidence is decorated with numerous churrigueresque figurines tucked away in niches, columns and top pieces.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of the Holy Angels and Archangels () was finished in 1665 with Baroque altarpieces decorated with Solomonic columns. It is dedicated to the Archangel Michael, who is depicted as a medieval knight. It contains a large main altarpiece with two smaller altarpieces both decorated by Juan Correa. The main altarpiece is dedicated to the seven archangels, who are represented by sculptures, in niches surrounding images of Saint Joseph, Mary and Christ. Above this scene are the Holy Spirit and God the Father. The left-hand altarpiece is of similar design and is dedicated to the Guardian Angel, whose sculpture is surrounded with pictures arranged to show the angelic hierarchy. To the left of this, a scene shows Saint Peter being released from prison, and to the right, Saul, later Saint Paul, being knocked from his horse, painted by Juan Correa in 1714. The right-hand altarpiece is dedicated to the Guardian Angel of Mexico.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Saints Cosme and Damian () was built because these two saints were commonly invoked during a time when New Spain suffered from the many diseases brought by the Conquistadors. The main altarpiece is Baroque, probably built in the 17th century. Oil paintings on wood contain scenes from physician saints, and are attributed to painter Sebastian Lopez Davalos, during the second half of the 17th century. The chapel contains one small altarpiece which came from the Franciscan church in Zinacantepec, to the west of Mexico City, and is dedicated to the birth of Jesus.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Saint Joseph (), built between 1654 and 1660, contains an image of "Our Lord of Cacao", an image of Christ most likely from the 16th  century. Its name was inspired from a time when many indigenous worshipers would give their alms in the form of cocoa beans. Churrigueresque in style and containing a graffito statue of Saint Joseph, patron saint of New Spain, the main altarpiece is Baroque and is from the 18th century. This once belonged to the Church of Our Lady of Monserrat. This altar contains statues and cubicles containing busts of the Apostles, but contains no paintings.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Our Lady of Solitude () was originally built in honor of the workers who built the cathedral. It contains three Baroque altarpieces. The main altarpiece is supported by caryatids and small angels as telamons, to uphold the base of the main body. It is dedicated to the Virgin of Solitude of Oaxaca, whose image appears in the center. The surrounding 16th century paintings are by Pedro Ramírez, and depict scenes from the life of Christ.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Saint Eligius (), also known as the Chapel of the Lord of Safe Expeditions (), was built by the first silversmith guild, who donated the images of the Conception and Saint Eligius to whom the chapel was formerly dedicated. The chapel was redecorated in the 19th century, and the image of "Our Lord of Good Sending" was placed here, named thus, since many supplicants reported having their prayers answered quickly. The image is thought to be from the 16th century and sent as a gift from Charles V of Spain.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows (), formerly known as the Chapel of the Lord's Supper (), was built in 1615. It was originally dedicated to the Last Supper since a painting of this event was once kept here. It was later remodeled in a Neo-classical style, with three altarpieces added by Antonio Gonzalez Velazquez. The main altarpiece contains an image of the "Virgin of Sorrows" sculpted in wood and painted by Francisco Terrazas, at the request of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. On the left-hand wall a ladder leads to a series of crypts which hold most of the remains of past archbishops of Mexico. The largest and grandest of these crypts contains the remains of Juan de Zumarraga, the first archbishop of Mexico.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of the Lord of Good dispatch () was premiered on December 8, 1648, and was dedicated to the silversmiths' guild, who placed two images of solid silver, one of the most pure conception and another of San Eligio or Eloy.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The decoration of the entire chapel is neoclassical style belongs to the first half of the nineteenth century.


title: Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

text: The Chapel of Saint Philip of Jesus () was completed during one of the earliest stages of the construction of the cathedral. It is dedicated to Philip of Jesus, a friar and the only martyr from New Spain, who was crucified in Japan. The chapel is topped with a Gothic-style dome and has a Baroque altarpiece from the 17th century. A statue of the saint is located in a large niche in the altarpiece. The altar to the left is dedicated to Saint Rose of Lima, considered a protector of Mexico City. To the right is an urn which holds the remains of Agustín de Iturbide, who briefly ruled Mexico from 1822 to 1823. Next to this chapel is a baptismal font, in which it is believed Philip of Jesus was baptised. The heart of Anastasio Bustamante is preserved here. In this chapel is a sculpture alluding to the first Mexican saint: San Felipe de Jesús. This work, as seen by many art critics, is the best elaborated, carved and polychrome sculptured sculpture from Latin America.