Monterrey was the Pittsburg of Mexico, with its gigantic steel plant Fundidora, belching out so much smoke, that we could barely see the Cerro de La Silla, the emblematic mountain, that symbolizes the city. That was how it was when I went there for the first time over 40 years ago.
The Cerro de la Silla, Monterrey
Then the news came: Fundidora was closing down operations! Many of us thought that would mean the agonizing beginning of the end of Mexico's foremost industrial city. .
The Futuristic Cross of the
New Basilica of Guadalupe
In Monterrey as Dawn
reaches over the Cerro
de la Silla
However, the people of Monterrey are a special breed: hard working, well disciplined, highly educated. Today steel is just a minor factor in a totally updated and clean industrial Monterrey, where the new focus is on the automotive parts industry. They even turned the dirty old steel mill into a pristine state-of-the-art amusement park for children, based on the Sesame Street characters.
The Cross of the Basilica with
the modern skyline of
Monterrey in the background
For many years, Monterrey had a beautiful, quaint, but quite small Basilica. But Monterrey's population grew geometrically of the past generations, as well as its devotion for its "morenita" as she is referred to here.
This modern sculpture of
the Virgin of Guadalupe
made out of iron and steel
The façade of the
Old Basilica
The main aisle of the
single-nave Old Basilica
Everyone loved the Old Basilica. It had the charm of a bygone age. It had style. But it didn't have space.
The Old Basilica with New Basilica in the foreground
Entrance of New Basilica de Guadalupe Monterrey
The altar of the New Basilica:
roomy, high ceilings, good
ventilation and lighting.
Pope John Paul II's sculpture
in the atrium of the Basilica
The Virgin of Guadalupe is not only the Virgin of Mexico, but of all of Mexico, including Monterrey, where the Blessed Virgin is deeply venerated.
The Virgin of Guadalupe
in Monterrey
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