The Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption ( es, Catedral de Santa María de la Asunción) 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 ...

located in the

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 ...

city of

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

, in a small exclave on the northwest coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. A primitive Eastern Roman Christian church stood on the site, and some researchers have identified this with the one built in the 6th century by Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renova ...

. This was replaced by the old Great Mosque of Ceuta, an architectural work of enormous wealth, according to descriptions which have survived, and although it underwent several enlargements, hardly any remains of it are to be seen today. After the Portuguese conquest of 1415, the Great Mosque was transformed into a Christian church by alterations, but there is no record of what they were. The passage of time and damage suffered by warlike incidents caused the ruin of the building, and at the end of the 17th-century it was decided to replace it by a new church designed by the architect Juan de Ochoa. Building work began in 1686, but many difficulties were suffered in the years which followed as a result of a great siege to which Ceuta was subjected, and the new cathedral was not consecrated until 1726, when it was dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady. Attached to the cathedral, there is a building housing the vicariate, secretariat, diocesan archive, library, cathedral museum, and other offshoots of the diocese, and there is also the bishop's palace, which surrounds a small triangular courtyard. Important sights in the cathedral are the Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity, a Baroque altarpiece, and frescoes by Miguel Bernardini, besides three large canvases and a 15th-century figure of the Great Virgin, which is of Portuguese origin.

References

External links

Cathedral
{{Authority control Churches in Ceuta

Renaissance architecture in Spain Baroque architecture in Spain Former mosques in Spain 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain Portuguese colonial architecture in Spain Neoclassical church buildings in Spain