Cardenas, built on an easy-to-follow grid pattern, is centred on the Catedral de la Immaculada Concepion (c. 1850), a fine old church noted for its stained-glass windows and fronted by a statue of Christopher Columbus sculpted by the Spanish artist Piquier in 1862. The town also has an unusual cast-iron market called Plaza Molocoff dating from 1859 with a 16m (52.5ft)-high dome. Cardenas is known for the rows of colonnaded, single storey private houses, mostly painted in pale, faded pastels, and the elaborate iron grilles guarding the windows. The whole town seems to run on horse or donkey power.