The Cathedral of Santa MarÃa (
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
: ''Catedral de Santa MarÃa'') is a cathedral located in
Calahorra
Calahorra [] ( an, Calagorra, la, Calagurris) is a municipality in the comarca of Rioja Baja, near the border with Navarre on the right bank of the Ebro. During Ancient Rome, Ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as ''Calagurris ...
(in
La Rioja
La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nà ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
). It is one of the cathedrals belonging to the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Calahorra y La Calzada-Logroño
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Calahorra y La Calzada-Logroño ( la, Calaguritan(us) et Calceaten(sis) – Lucronien(sis)) is a diocese located in the cities of Calahorra, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Logroño in the ecclesiastical province o ...
.
The building was given a heritage listing in 1931, and is currently protected as a ''
Bien de Interés Cultural
A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries.
The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense) and inclu ...
''.
History
According to the Roman Christian poet
Prudentius
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens () was a Roman citizen, Roman Christianity, Christian poet, born in the Roman Empire, Roman province of Tarraconensis (now Northern Spain) in 348.H. J. Rose, ''A Handbook of Classical Literature'' (1967) p. 508 He prob ...
,
San Emeterio and San Celedonio, two Roman brothers and
legionaries
The Roman legionary (in Latin ''legionarius'', plural ''legionarii'') was a professional heavy infantryman of the Roman army after the Marian reforms. These soldiers would conquer and defend the territories of ancient Rome during the late Republi ...
who converted to Christianity, were beheaded in Calahorra around the year 300. Local legend states that the cathedral was built on the spot where the two were killed.
They are now venerated as patron saints of the city and their relics are still kept inside the cathedral.
The site of the
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
dom become a place of pilgrimage in the 4th century, which led to the construction of a
Visigoth
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...
baptistery
In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptÃzein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...
, later destroyed during the
Arab conquest. Following the city's return to Christian rule during
Reconquista
The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
, the
episcopal see
An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...
was restored in 1045.
Construction of the current building began in 1484 in the
Gothic
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 b ...
style, but gained several other influences over the next centuries, the facade and interior decorations being examples of
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
. The main work on the cathedral was done by the 18th Century, with the last element added being the
retable
A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate structur ...
of the main altar, in 1904, after the original one was destroyed during a fire in 1900.
References
External links
Virtual Tour of the Cathedral of Santa MarÃa
Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in La Rioja (Spain)
Calahorra
Calahorra [] ( an, Calagorra, la, Calagurris) is a municipality in the comarca of Rioja Baja, near the border with Navarre on the right bank of the Ebro. During Ancient Rome, Ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as ''Calagurris ...
15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain
Renaissance architecture in La Rioja (Spain)
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