The Metropolitan Archcathedral of Panama is heir to the cathedral erected by Pope Adrian VI in the great house of Cacique Cémaco, when the Spanish confronted him and offered to found a town dedicated to Saint Mary of la Antigua, in 1510.

It has two plastered towers, once painted red on top, inlaid with mother-of-pearl that were considered the tallest in Panama for a long time.

The current lamps, made of gilded bronze with a traditional design, were donated by the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro.

On December 22, 2014, the Archbishop of Panama José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta announced that the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments conferred on the metropolitan cathedral the title of minor basilica, with all the tasks and obligations that this entails in the liturgical and pastoral sphere.

Herald, published in London, in 1853, reads as follows: The cathedral [of Panama City] is a fine edifice, occupying nearly the whole western side of the Plaza del Catedral; it is built in the old Spanish style, and has on its eastern facing two spires, and several statues, representing the Virgin Mary and the Apostles.

It is rich in church ornaments; the decorations are tasteless, and the paintings, excepting the portraits of the Panamian bishops, which possess some historical interest, without any value.