Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Managua Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Managua The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (Spanish: "Catedral Metropolitana de la Inmaculada Concepción de María"), referred to as the New Cathedral ("La Nueva Catedral"), is located in Managua, Nicaragua. It was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The cathedral was built in 1991 to serve as a replacement for the Old Cathedral of Managua or St. James' Cathedral ("Catedral de Santiago"). The old cathedral was damaged and thought to be unrestoreable after a 1972 earthquake that destroyed 90% of the city. The new cathedral was designed by the Mexican architect
Managua and its economy. To make matters worse, a series of natural disasters, including Hurricane Mitch in 1998, made economic recovery more difficult. After winning the presidential election in 1990, the National Opposition Union began the reconstruction of Managua began in earnest. More than 300,000 Nicaraguans returned from abroad bringing their expertise and needed capital. Businesses mushroomed, new housing projects and schools were constructed, the airport was expanded and modernized, streets were widened, older malls were repaired and new ones were built, and buildings were cleaned up. In 2006, after the Sandinista National Liberation Front came back into power, literacy, health