Very often, this beautiful basilica, located almost in the centre of the city of San Miguel, is called by locals simply San Miguel Cathedral or affectionately "our Queen of Peace".

This building is relatively new. However, a few centuries ago, a small church of the Archangel Michael had already stood in its place. It looked more like a chapel built around 1740. So, by the middle of the 19th century, it could no longer accommodate everyone who wanted to come to the service.

The city authorities decided to demolish the old church instead of preserving it, so that a new large church could be built in its place in November 1862. The English engineer William Kirk, who was invited by the first lady of the country Adela Guzman de Barrios, was put in charge of all the work. However, 3 years after his patroness died, the architect was forced to leave San Miguel for political reasons. By that time, he had just laid the foundation and started building walls.

Locals completed the roof literally on their own so that services could be conducted in the church. The new, large, but unfinished church received its first parishioners in February 1913. Surprisingly, the church worked for many years remaining incomplete. Every year the authorities and residents collected a fairly large amount of money and slowly completed the temple. The work was finally completed only a hundred years later, in 1962.

Thanks to such an active help from locals, the temple turned out to be really rich and beautiful. For example, the tiles were brought there from Brussels. Small stained-glass windows were ordered in Germany and stained-glass windows for the main facade were made in Mexico. The main altar was made of Italian marble, carefully selected by the best craftsmen.

Today’s Cathedral Basilica of Queen of Peace is the main protector of the city. It is said that in 1682 the main icon of the cathedral, which depicts Our Lady with Jesus, was brought to the city with a coastal wave. And as soon as the icon was found, the small clashes between different tribes ceased in the city. And in 1787, there was a strong volcano eruption in San Miguel. The icon was brought to the center of the city so that all the inhabitants could gather and pray to it. So after a general prayer, the lava changed its direction and went around the city.