Discover the cathedrals of Spain: the Sagrada Familia, the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral and many more!
These houses of worship from another era of Spanish history have endowed their cities with incalculable artistic riches. They are UNESCO World Heritage buildings whose architecture, history and religious status make them the perfect hosts for your long-awaited visit.
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The Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
The Sagrada Familia is considered Gaudí’s masterpiece and has also been declared UNESCO World Heritage, alongside his other works.If you’re a fan of this architect’s naturalistic style, you’ll love exploring the cathedral’s interior. You’ll feel as though you were walking through a forest of giant stone trees, as each column assumes the form of a trunk with branches spreading out to support the church’s weight. The cathedral will have 18 towers by the time construction is concluded, each one of them paying homage to a significant Biblical figure. Meanwhile, some of the towers have been adapted in order to allow visitors to enjoy the view of Barcelona from their parapets.
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Santiago de Compostela Cathedral
The Santiago de Compostela cathedral is the endpoint of the Way of St James pilgrimage and Spain’s most famous cathedral across the globe. The cathedral presents a Romanesque structure whose iconic Obradoiro façade invites visitors to enter and discover its interior. This is the site of the Portico of Glory, the magnum opus of the Spanish Romanesque style, although the cathedral also brings together a number of other architectural styles. This portico is framed by over 200 granite sculptures that ooze expression and symbolism, evoking the themes of Original Sin, Redemption, and the Last Judgement.
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Great Mosque of Córdoba
The Great Mosque of Córdoba is an iconic symbol of this city, recognised far beyond Spain’s borders. A house of worship that, over its 12 centuries of history, has been a Visigoth basilica, a Muslim mosque, and following the Christian reconquest of Córdoba in 1236, a Christian cathedral. In spite of all these transformations, it has managed to conserve traces of each of these cultures, making it one of the most culturally valuable religious sites in the history of art.A walk around the mosque, with its wealth of lofty pillars topped by red and white fringed arches, is like taking a trip back in time.
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Santa Iglesia Cathedral of Seville
The largest Gothic cathedral in the world was constructed on a site freed up by the demolition of Seville’s Aljama mosque. However, some parts of the original structure were maintained, allowing visitors to admire the beautiful Patio de los Naranjos courtyard and its Alminar, or bell tower, better known as La Giralda. The Giralda bell tower is crowned by the Giraldillo, the sculpture of a female figure from which the tower takes its name and which symbolises the triumph of Christianity. If you enjoy the charms that Seville has to offer, you might like to admire them from above, with beautiful views of the intensely green Patio de los Naranjos.The list of Spanish cathedrals is made up of almost as many columns as you’ll find within the buildings themselves. Burgos, Mallorca, Oviedo, Zaragoza, Toledo and many more Spanish cities are home to cathedrals that will take your breath away as soon as you set foot inside them.
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