was built in 1837, and rebuilt by Jardine in 1869. The Blessed Sacrament Chapel, of baroque and rococo design, is reached by a door in the south side of the nave. The sculpture above the entrance depicts Our Lady of Regla and her supplicants, Ss Francis of Assisi and Rita of Cascia, the patrons of the city, above the Hebrews Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace (see illustration below). The Sacred Art Museum is located in the crypt, adjacent to the tombs of the past prelates of the archdiocese. It displays a collection of paintings by such known Colonial-era artists as Miguel Cabrera, José de Alcíbar, José de Páez and Antonio de Torres; portraits of Pope John Paul II and the prelates of Chihuahua are represented as well. The throne that the Pope used during his 1990 Mass in Chihuahua and the large and ornate former archbishops cathedra and canopy are on display, as are contemporary paintings of the cathedral and several life-sized statues of the saints, some of which are two centuries old. History Originally, Sergeant-Major Don Juan Antonio Trasviña y Retes, one of the leading Spanish citizens of the village, donated the land for the first church in the villa, where the cathedral would later stand. The first stone was placed on 21 June 1725 by the Bishop of Nueva Vizcaya in Durango, Don Benito Crespo y Monroy (in those times, Chihuahua depended religiously upon, and was a part of, the Diocese of Durango.) The church was paid for with local commercial donations and by mine owners in the city and in Santa Eulalia, a pueblo to the east, and also by a tax of one real on each mark of silver that was mined in the province. The first superintendent of construction was Pedro Coronado, followed by Miguel de la Sierra and then Master Architect José de la Cruz, who finalised the plans, and was buried in the church upon his death in 1734. Others followed until Architect Bernardo del Carpio began the construction of the towers in 1758. The bells had been cast in 1730, and were placed in the newly completed towers in 1780, directed by Superintendent Melchor Guaspe. Construction of the church was completed in 1792. The building was slightly damaged during the French intervention in Mexico, repaired, and was designated a cathedral on 23 June 1891, with the erection of the