Santiago de Compostela Cathedral
Romanesque pilgrimage cathedral behind a Baroque granite front, goal of the Camino de Santiago.
Building began in 1075 over the shrine said to hold the remains of the apostle James, and the Romanesque church was consecrated in 1211. Its plan follows the pilgrimage model of a Latin cross with wide aisles and an ambulatory, allowing crowds to circulate past the crypt and high altar. The most celebrated Romanesque element is the Portico of Glory, carved by Master Mateo and his workshop from 1168 and now shown behind the later west front after a restoration campaign completed in 2018.
Between 1738 and 1750 Fernando de Casas Novoa clad the west end in the Obradoiro facade, a towering Baroque composition in Galician granite that shelters the earlier portico. The cathedral is the terminus of the Camino de Santiago and the focus of the old town inscribed by UNESCO in 1985. Visitors can also see the Gelmirez Palace, the museum's tapestries and the granite roofs, while the botafumeiro, an outsized censer swung across the transept, is used at certain services.
Highlights
- Portico of Glory, Master Mateo's Romanesque sculpted doorway of 1168
- Obradoiro facade of 1738-1750 in Galician granite
- Botafumeiro censer swung across the transept at set services
- Rooftop walk over the granite vaults above the nave
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