The Cathedral of Cartagena in Spain, or the Cathedral of Santa María la Vieja, was a cathedral of the

Diocese of Cartagena The Diocese of Cartagena ( la, Carthaginen(sis) in Hispania) is the diocese of the city of Cartagena in the Ecclesiastical province of Granada in Spain.Cartagena. It has been in ruins since 1939, when it was destroyed when Cartagena was shelled in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

forces.

History

Cartagena had a see before the

Muslim conquest of Spain The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, also known as the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, was the initial expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania (in the Iberian Peninsula) from 711 to 718. The conquest resulted in the decline of t ...

, but no trace of the pre-conquest cathedral has been found yet. In 1243 Alfonso X of Castile launched a campaign to reconquer the

Kingdom of Murcia After roughly two decades as a protectorate of the Crown of Castile, the territory of the Taifa of Murcia became the Kingdom of Murcia ( es, Reino de Murcia, links=no, a territorial jurisdiction of the Crown of Castile) in the wake of its Conques ...

, and petitioned Pope Innocent IV to restore the Diocese of Cartagena. In 1250 the Pope issued the bull "Spiritus exultante" restoring the diocese. The first bishop of the new phase of the Diocese was the Franciscan friar

Pedro Gallego Pedro González Pérez (c. 1197 – 19 November 1267), known as Pedro Gallego ( la, Petrus Gallecus or ''Gallegus''), was a Franciscan scholar and prelate. He was the first bishop of Cartagena from the diocese's restoration in 1248 until ...

, Alfonso's confessor. There is inconclusive evidence whether there was a cathedral in Cartagena at that time. In medieval and Renaissance documents the church is described as "Iglesia Mayor", and is only called "Old Cathedral" from the eighteenth century. García Martínez, the second bishop of the diocese, decided with the consent of King Sancho IV to transfer the see to Murcia, although retaining the name of Diocese of Cartagena. The church therefore lost its status of a cathedral, and became a parish church. Throughout the centuries, there were continuing demands to the Vatican for the restitution of the bishopric to Cartagena. The church of Santa María de Gracia, with the shape and dimensions of a cathedral, was built in the 18th century on a different site, with the aim of becoming the seat of the diocese in place of the original church. In the late nineteenth century the foundations of the medieval church collapsed. The church was restored by the architect Victor Beltrí, in Romanesque style with modernist elements. During the Spanish Civil War the church was attacked and the contents damaged on 25 July 1936. In 1939 it was bombed and has remained abandoned since then.

Roman theatre

In 1988 a Roman theatre was discovered during building works near the old cathedral. It was found that the old cathedral had been built over the upper part of the theatre, using some material from the theatre.Fundacion Teatro Romano de Cartagena: The History of a Discovery
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References

{{Authority control

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

Churches in the Region of Murcia Former cathedrals Former churches in Spain Roman Catholic cathedrals in the Region of Murcia