The ruins of Haiti's national cathedral stand as the most visible memorial to the January 2010 earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people. The twin-towered neogothic structure, consecrated in 1914, was completely destroyed; what remains is its façade and some of the outer walls, with the collapsed interior open to the sky. The decision not to demolish the ruins — but to leave them as a monument — was controversial but deeply felt.
The cathedral occupied the most important ecclesiastical site in the country, and its ruins are surrounded by the Champs de Mars plaza and the MUPANAH museum. The effect is both desolate and oddly beautiful: vines have begun to reclaim the broken stonework, and the skeletal towers remain the tallest structure in the immediate area. For many Haitians the ruins represent both the magnitude of the disaster and the endurance of the city.