The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption ( pt, Sé Catedral de Nossa Senhora da Assunção) in
Sé,
Funchal
Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high ...
,
Madeira,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, is the
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 denominatio ...
of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Funchal
The Diocese of Funchal ( la, Dioecesis Funchalensis) was created originally on 12 June 1514, by bull ''Pro excellenti præeminentia'' of Pope Leo X, following the elevation of Funchal from a village to the status of city, by King Manuel I of Po ...
, which encompasses all of the
Autonomous Region of Madeira
)
, anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira")
, song_type = Regional anthem
, image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg
, map_alt=Location of Madeira
, map_caption=Location of Madeira
, subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
. The late fifteenth-century cathedral is one of the few structures that survives virtually intact since the early period of colonization of Madeira. The patron of the cathedral is
Our Lady of the Assumption ( pt, Nossa Senhora da Assunção).
Design and artwork
The cathedral is designed in a
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 ...
and has three naves. The building was constructed using thousands of blocks of volcanic rocks carried from the cliffs at
Cabo Girão
Cabo Girão is a lofty sea cliff located along the southern coast of the island of Madeira, in the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, geographically part of Africa. Cabo Girão is a tourist lookout point, with up to 1800 visitors a day. The locat ...
, namely
trachybasalt
Trachybasalt is a volcanic rock with a composition between trachyte and basalt. It resembles basalt but has a high content of alkali metal oxides. Minerals in trachybasalt include alkali feldspar, calcic plagioclase, olivine, clinopyroxene and li ...
,
trachyandesite
Trachyandesite is an extrusive igneous rock with a composition between trachyte and andesite. It has little or no free quartz, but is dominated by sodic plagioclase and alkali feldspar. It is formed from the cooling of lava enriched in alka ...
,
trachyte
Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava enriched with silica and al ...
,
tephrite
Tephrite is an igneous, volcanic (extrusive) rock, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. Mineral content is usually abundant feldspathoids (leucite or nepheline), plagioclase, and lesser alkali feldspar. Pyroxenes (clinopyroxenes) are common ...
and ashes, lapilli and breccia
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...
. The facades are predominantly plastered and painted white, with stonework corners.
The roof of the cathedral features a
Mudéjar
Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...
-inspired design and is of cedar wood.
The wooden choir stalls depict prophets, saints and apostles in 16th-century garb. In the decorative details of the seats and armrests, aspects of Madeira's life can also be seen, such as cherubs carrying a bunch of bananas or a wineskin.
The cathedral contains a silver processional cross donated by King
Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portuga ...
, considered one of the masterpieces of
Manueline
The Manueline ( pt, estilo manuelino, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manuel ...
liturgical silverwork.
As Pope
John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
visited Madeira in 1991, a statue of Pope was built to remember the event. It is located outside the cathedral, which was moved to its current position after formerly being installed in the urban area of Funchal adjacent to the waterfront.
History
During the 1490s, Manuel I sent
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Pêro Anes or Gil Enes to work on the design of the Cathedral of Funchal. The cathedral was structurally complete in 1514. Prior to completion, however, by 1508, when Funchal was elevated to the status of a city, the cathedral was already being used for the celebration of
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
. The spire of the bell tower and a few additional details were finalized in 1517-1518.
[
Since to this diocese were submitted all new lands discovered by Portuguese in America, it became, for some years, the biggest Catholic diocese in the world]
Diocese do Funchal (official site in Portuguese).
References
External links
Diocese of Funchal- Information about the Cathedral
- gcatholic
- Catholic Encyclopedia
{{R-C cathedrals in Portugal
1514 establishments in Portugal
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1514
Funchal
Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high ...
Churches in Madeira
Mudéjar architecture
Buildings and structures in Funchal
Tourist attractions in Funchal
Gothic architecture in Portugal
16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Portugal