The New Cathedral ( es, Catedral Nueva) is, together with the Old Cathedral, one of the two

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 denominations ...

s of

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...

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") , ...

. It was constructed between the 16th and 18th centuries in two styles: late

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Building began in 1513 and the cathedral was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different gro ...

in 1733. It was commissioned by Ferdinand V of Castile. It was declared a national monument by royal decree in 1887.

Architectural style

The building began at a time when the gothic style was becoming less popular and was merging with the new

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

style, giving the resulting

Plateresque style Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, developed in Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance i ...

. However, this cathedral retained more of its Gothic character because the authorities wanted the new cathedral to blend with the old one. Thus the new cathedral was constructed, continuing with Gothic style during the 17th and 18th centuries. However, during the 18th century, two elements were added that broke with the showy form with the predominant style of the building: a Baroque

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, f ...

on the crossing and the final stages of the

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tow ...

(92 m). The new cathedral was constructed without the subsequent destruction of the old cathedral, but a wall of the new cathedral leans on the North wall of the old one. For this reason, the old cathedral had to be reinforced, and the bell tower was constructed on the old one. Two of the main architects of the cathedral were

Juan Gil de Hontañón Juan Gil de Hontañón ( Rasines, Cantabria 1480 – Salamanca, 11 May 1531) was a master builder and Trasmeran mason of Spain during the 16th century. His first work was associated with Segovia, where he was associated with the school of Juan Gu ...

and his son

Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón (1500–1577) was a Spanish architect of the Renaissance. He was born at Rascafría. His work alternated the late gothic with the renaissance style. His workings include the Palace of Monterrey in Salamanca, the Pal ...

in 1538. Its main entrance consists of three richly decorated arcs, each leading to the three naves (sections) of the church.

Restoration after the Lisbon earthquake

Cracks and broken windows still visible today are reminders of the devastating effects of the

1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...

. After the earthquake, repairs were necessary to the cupola and the base of the tower which were reinforced with a lining of lines of sillares, in the form of a pyramid trunk that spoiled the basic profile of the tower (this tower is a virtual twin of the tower of the

cathedral of Segovia Segovia Cathedral is the Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral located in the main square ( Plaza Mayor) of the city of Segovia, in the community of Castile-Leon, Spain. The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was built in the Flamboyant Go ...

). The moment of this catastrophe is commemorated with the " Mariquelo" tradition on October 31, when every year residents climb to the cupola high above and play flutes and drums.

Restoration in 1992

Among the ornate carvings on the façade are those of a faun eating an ice cream and of an

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

added during restoration work in 1992, when Jeronimo Garcia, one of the artists responsible for the restoration, chose to add this figure into the structure to symbolise the twentieth century.Evon, D., Mikkelson, D.
Astronaut Carving Found on Ancient Spanish Cathedral

Snopes ''Snopes'' , formerly known as the ''Urban Legends Reference Pages'', is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source f ...

, published 18 January 2009, accessed 17 April 2022 Cúpula Catedral nueva de Salamanca.jpg, Interior of the dome Catedral de Salamanca lateral.JPG, Facade of the Puerta de Ramos of the New Cathedral from the Plaza de Anaya Sculpture of astronaut added to New Cathedral, Salamanca, Spain, during renovations.JPG, Astronaut sculpture, added during renovations in 1992 Faun New Cathedral Salamanca.JPG, Detail of the facade of the New Cathedral of Salamanca: faun with ice cream. Added during renovations Death New Cathedral Salamanca.JPG, Death: detail of the interior of the New Cathedral of Salamanca

References

External links

Cathedrals of Salamanca website
{{Authority control Salamanca, New Roman Catholic churches in Salamanca 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain Roman Catholic churches completed in 1733 Gothic architecture in Castile and León Renaissance architecture in Castile and León Baroque architecture in Castile and León Church buildings with domes