Plans have been approved for the reconstruction of the cathedral in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, whose destroyed form became an icon of the 2010 earthquake that claimed more than 300,000 lives.

A panel from the University of Miami School of Architecture chose a design by Puerto Rican architect Segundo Cardona that incorporates the ruins of the facade and rose window of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption with a new rotunda built around a central altar.

The archdiocese of Port-au-Prince has yet to raise funds for the project. Thomas Wenski, the Archbishop of Miami, which has close links to the Caribbean country, said most of the US$100 million collected by the Catholic Church in the US after the earthquake went on relief and development work.

Above: the ruined cathedral has been cleared inside but its shell remains pretty much as it was after the earthquake three years ago (CNS photo); below are the winning designs of the proposed new structure.