Cathedral of Puerto Montt, Catholic cathedral at Plaza de Armas, Puerto Montt, Chile

The Cathedral of Puerto Montt is a church building at the city's central square marked by four Doric columns on its front. Inside, twelve columns made from local alerce wood support the roof and create a warm wooden interior space.

When Vicente Pérez Rosales laid out Puerto Montt, he secured a plot facing the Plaza de Armas for a church, blessed as a parish in 1892. Pope Pius XII made it a cathedral in 1939 with the creation of the Diocese of Puerto Montt. Repairs followed in 1941 and in the 1960s after the 1960 earthquake, with interior restoration in 1975 and a final intervention in 2002.

The cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary under the title Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and it serves as the seat of the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Puerto Montt. Its site facing the Plaza de Armas was set aside for a church when Vicente Pérez Rosales laid out the city.

The building sits on the Plaza de Armas and is easy to reach on foot from the city center, with good views of the front from the street. The interior is open to visitors during opening hours, with simple dress expected and respectful behavior appreciated.

The 12 interior columns are of alerce, a native wood the sources name as the material of the roof's beam system. The front, by contrast, carries four Doric columns modelled on the Parthenon, so the classical stone look outside hides a timber structure within.