The Cathedral of Astorga (Spanish: ''Catedral de Santa María de Astorga'') is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

Astorga, Spain Astorga () is a municipality and city of Spain located in the central area of the province of León, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León, southwest of the provincial capital. It is located in the transit between the Páramo Leonés ...

. It was declared a national monument in 1931. The gothic edifice was begun in 1471, within the same walls of its Romanesque predecessors from the 11th-13th centuries. The construction lasted until the 18th century, thus to its original

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths ** Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken ...

appearance were added elements from later styles, such as the Neo-Classicist cloister (18th century), the Baroque towers, capitals and the façade, and the Renaissance portico. With a rectangular layout, with apsidal chapels, very clear and bright, it has an architectural closeness to German Gothic. Astorga catedral interior 31

The interior houses numerous artworks, such as the Flemish-Spanish

retablo A retablo is a devotional painting, especially a small popular or folk art one using iconography derived from traditional Catholic church art. More generally ''retablo'' is also the Spanish term for a retable or reredos above an altar, whether ...

of St. Michael, and the large high altar by

Gaspar Becerra Gaspar Becerra (1520–1568) was a Spanish painter and sculptor of the School of Valladolid. Biography He was born at Baeza in the Province of Jaén. He went to Rome in 1545, and studied with Giorgio Vasari, whom he assisted in painting the h ...

(1558), considered a masterwork of the Spanish Renaissance sculpture. Other sculptures include the "Purísima" by

Gregorio Fernández Gregorio Fernández (April 1576 – 22 January 1636) was a Spanish Baroque sculptor. He belongs to the Castilian school of sculpture, following the style of other great artists like Alonso Berruguete, Juan de Juni, Pompeyo Leoni, and Juan de Ar ...

(1626), "St. John the Baptist and St. Jerome" by

Mateo del Prado Mateo may refer to: People ;Name * Mateo (given name) * Mateo (surname) ;People named Mateo * Mateo (singer) (born 1986), former stage name of American pop/R&B singer-songwriter Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Mateo'' (1937 film), a 1937 Argent ...

(17th century) and the "Christ of the Waters" (14th century). Next to the church is the Neo-medieval Episcopal Palace, designed by Antoni Gaudí.

External links

Official websiteThe Art of medieval Spain, A.D. 500-1200
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Astorga Cathedral (no. 70) {{Coord, 42, 27, 28, N, 6, 03, 25, W, display=title 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain Roman Catholic cathedrals in Castile and León Churches in Castile and León Gothic architecture in Castile and León Baroque architecture in Castile and León Buildings and structures in the Province of León Astorga, Spain