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Santiago de Compostela Cathedral

Santiago de Compostela Cathedral

Master Mateo & Fernando de Casas Novoa

Photo: Fernando · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Client / Owner
—
Year
Completed 1075
Access
Public
Typology
Spiritual

The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela is traditionally linked to the discovery of the tomb of Saint James the Great in the 9th century. Work on the present building began in 1075 under Bishop Diego Peláez. Its core is Romanesque, with later Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque additions.

The Pórtico da Gloria, a Romanesque portal by Master Mateo, was completed in 1188. The Baroque Obradoiro facade, designed by Fernando de Casas Novoa, was completed in 1740. Inside the cross-shaped church hangs the Botafumeiro, a censer weighing 80 kilograms (176 pounds) and standing 5 feet (1.6 m) tall. On major religious holidays it swings almost to the roof of the transept at up to 50 miles an hour (80 km/h).

The cathedral marks the traditional end of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, and UNESCO listed it in 1985.

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