It’s ironic how life can throw you a curve and open up an entirely new vista. The story about how we came to visit Mazatlan in 2006 is too long to recount here. Suffice it to say that in Mid-February 2015, we made our third trip to the city known as “The Pearl of the Pacific.”

Our focus in upcoming photo galleries features images from our trips to this city on the western coast of Mexico. For this first installment, I submit for your approval, a gallery of images featuring one of Mazatlan’s great historic landmarks, the Basilica de la Inmaculada Concepción. The opening image features a view of Mazatlan’s Centro Historico, the city center. The cathedral dominates the skyline of the downtown central district.

Built on the site of an ancient Indian temple, depending upon which source you reference, construction of the cathedral either began in 1856 or in 1875. The building process was lengthy and interrupted by political turbulence. As a result, final completion of the house of worship didn’t happen until 1899. One unique feature that I missed when we visited the basilica is that each of the 28 stained glass windows features a Star of David. A wealthy Jewish family donated construction funds and the Jewish symbol was added to the windows to honor the contribution. I regret not knowing that bit of trivia before leaving the city, or I would have featured a photograph of one of the windows. That gives me something to feature next trip south…  (And there WILL be a next trip, I’m sure.)

Coincidently, our visit to the cathedral occurred on Ash Wednesday. As we approached the doors, church officiates were soliciting free will donations of the tourists who wished to view the church interior. I was surprised, as we entered the church to find that Ash Wednesday services were being held at that moment. I experienced a moment of confusion, wondering if we would be a disruption to the services. This only lasted a moment as I realized we were but two of the many tourist visitors entering and leaving from the several doors at the rear of the church. So as not to disturb the services, I disabled the flash on my camera and took only a few images of the interior, all from the very rear of the church.

The main altar and rear altar feature images of the patron saint of the city, the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.

In the next couple of weeks, I am looking forward to sharing more images of Mazatlan, Pearl of the Pacific.

John Steiner