Santa María de Regla de León Cathedral is a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
church, the episcopal see of the
diocese of León in the city of
León,
Castile and León
Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...
, north-western
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, consecrated under the name of the
Virgin Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
. It was the first
monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...
declared by the
Royal Order of Spain on August 28, 1844 (confirmed by the Royal Order on September 24, 1845).
Initiated in the 13th century, it is one of the greatest works of the
Gothic style, with French influences. Also known as the ''Pulchra Leonina'', which means ‘Beautiful Leonese’, it is located on the Way of Saint James, or ''
Camino de Santiago
The Camino de Santiago (, ; ), or the Way of St. James in English, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tra ...
''.
The León Cathedral is mostly known for taking the “dematerialization” of gothic art to the extreme, that is, the reduction of the walls to their minimum expression to be replaced by
stained glass
Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
, constituting one of the largest collections of medieval stained glass in the world.
Current structure
León Cathedral, dedicated to
Saint Mary, mother of Jesus, is known as the ''Pulchra Leonina'' and is a masterpiece of the
Gothic style of the mid-13th century. The design is attributed to the Master Mason Enrique. By the mid 15th century it was virtually completed.
The main façade has two towers. The southern tower is known as the 'clock tower'. The
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
retrochoir contains alabaster sculptures by
Jusquin,
Copin of Holland and
Juan de Malinas. Particularly noteworthy is the
Plateresque
Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish language, Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially Architecture, architectural, developed in Spanish Empire, Spain and its territories, which appeared ...
iron
grillwork screen or
reja in the wall behind the sepulcher of King Ordoño.
It has three portals decorated with sculptures situated in the pointed arches between the two towers. The central section has a large rose window. Particularly outstanding is the image of the ''Virgen Blanca'' and the ''Locus Appellatione'', where justice was imparted.
The church has nearly 1,800 square meters of stained glass windows. The great majority of them date from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century: a rarity among medieval gothic churches.
In the Main Chapel, there is an altarpiece by
Nicolás Francés (15th century) and a silver urn containing the relics of
San Froilán, the town's patron saint, made by
Enrique de Arfe. The 13th- to 15th-century cloister contains sculpted details in the capitals, friezes, and ledges.
The Cathedral Museum houses a large collection of sacred art. There are almost 1,500 pieces, including 50
Romanesque sculptures of the Virgin, dating from prehistoric times to the 18th century (
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...
) with works by
Juan de Juni,
Gregorio Fernández,
Mateo Cerezo, a triptych of the School of
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
, a
Mozarabic bible and numerous codices. The first manuscript in the
Leonese language
Leonese (''llionés, ḷḷionés, lionés'') is a set of vernacular Romance languages, Romance language varieties spoken in northern and western portions of the historical region of León (historical region), León in Spain (the modern provi ...
, the
Nodicia de Kesos, can be found in its archives.
Leon Cathedral is also one of the three most important cathedrals, along with that of
Burgos
Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos.
Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...
and
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...
, on ''The Way of Saint James'' (or in Spanish, ''El Camino de Santiago''). It was declared a Monument of Cultural Interest in 1844.
History
Previous constructions
;The Roman baths
Originally, on the current site of the
cathedral
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
, the
Legio VII Gemina had built thermal baths larger in size than the current cathedral. During the great restoration of the building in the 19th century, the remains of the thermal baths were discovered under the cathedral, and in 1996, others were discovered near the south façade. Little remains of these primitive buildings, only some vestiges of
mosaic
A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...
s, roof tiles (''
tegulas''), and ceramics, displayed today at the cathedral museum. Others, like the
hypocaust
A hypocaust () is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm the upper floors a ...
, remain under the site.
The primitive cathedral

During the ''
Reconquista
The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...
'' (Christian reconquest) the ancient Roman baths were converted into a royal palace.
King Ordoño II, who had occupied the throne of
Leon in 916, defeated the Arabs in the
Battle of San Esteban de Gormaz in 917.
As a sign of gratitude to God for victory, he gave up his palace to build the first cathedral. Under the episcopate of Fruminio II, the building was transformed into a sacred place. The tomb of Ordoño II of Leon, who died in 924, is found in the cathedral.
The temple was guarded and governed by monks of the
Order of St. Benedict, and it is likely that its structure was very similar to many others existing during the Leonese Mozarabic period.
Almanzor
Abu ʿĀmir Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Abi ʿĀmir al-Maʿafiri (), nicknamed al-Manṣūr (, "the Victorious"), which is often Latinized as Almanzor in Spanish, Almansor in Catalan language, Catalan and Almançor in Portuguese ( 938 – 8 A ...
campaigned through these lands in the late 10th century, devastating the city and destroying the temples. However, damage to the building of the cathedral appears to have been rapidly addressed, since in the year 999 King
Alfonso V was crowned in the church.
After the political turmoil and Moorish raids that lasted until 1067 the state of the cathedral was in extreme poverty. This would move to King
Ferdinand I of León
Ferdinand I ( 1015 – 24 December 1065), called the Great (''el Magno''), was the count of Castile from his uncle's death in 1029 and the king of León after defeating his brother-in-law in 1037. According to tradition, he was the first to have ...
, who, after transferring the remains of
San Isidoro to León, sought to restore the temple. This king achieved success in the expansion of the kingdom.
;The Romanesque cathedral
With the help of the infanta
Urraca of Zamora, the first-born daughter of the king, begins the construction of a second cathedral, according to the aspirations of the city and the
Romanesque style. It was within the episcopal see of
Pelagius of Oviedo, or ''Pelayo II''. Between 1884 and 1888, when the architect
Demetrio de los Ríos, excavated the basement of the cathedral to replace the pavement and lay the foundations of the pillars, he found part of the walls and factory of the second cathedral. Through the plan that he drew, we notice how everything was configured within the Gothic: It was built in brick and masonry, with three naves finished in semicircular
apse
In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...
s, dedicating the central nave to Saint Mary, as in the previous church. A cloister was also built on the north side. The new church was significant in dimensions, measuring 60 meters in length and 40 meters in maximum width. Although all of it was executed within the international currents of the Romanesque, contemplating what has survived of its statutory, we can find out that it had an indigenous character, still using the horseshoe arch, at least as a decorative form. It was consecrated on November 10, 1073, during the reign of
Alfonso VI. Presumably the same
stonemasons who built the
Basilica of San Isidoro of León also worked on the León Cathedral.
The cathedral remained in place until the end of the next century. When the last proprietary king of León,
Alfonso IX, accedes to the throne, the city and in the kingdom witness an important change in society, artistic creativity, and cultural development.
Construction of the current Gothic cathedral

Construction of the third cathedral began around the year 1205, but problems in structural foundation paralyzed construction, and the work was not resumed until 1255. Under the pontificate of Bishop Martín Fernández and the support of
King Alfonso X de Castilla, this new cathedral became entirely Gothic.
The architect of the cathedral seems to have been Master Enrique, probably a native of France, who had previously worked on
Burgos Cathedral. It is evident that he was familiar with Gothic architectural form of
Île-de-France
The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...
. He died in 1277 and was replaced with the Spanish Juan Pérez. In 1289, Bishop Martín Fernández also died, when the top of the church was open for worship. The fundamental structure of the cathedral was soon completed, in 1302, with Bishop Gonzalo Osorio opening the entire church to the faithful, although the cloister and the north tower were still not completed; the south tower was not completed until the second half of the 15th century. This promptness in completion gives the cathedral a great unity of architectural style.
The León Cathedral was inspired by the layout of the
Reims Cathedral
Notre-Dame de Reims (; ; meaning "Our Lady of Reims"), known in English as Reims Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral in the French city of the same name, the seat of the Archdiocese of Reims. The cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and wa ...
(although it was smaller in area size), which was well known to Master Enrique. Like most French cathedrals, León was constructed with modular geometry based on the triangle (''
ad triangulum''), whose members related to the
square root
In mathematics, a square root of a number is a number such that y^2 = x; in other words, a number whose ''square'' (the result of multiplying the number by itself, or y \cdot y) is . For example, 4 and −4 are square roots of 16 because 4 ...
of 3, to which the totality of its parts and the whole respond. This aspect, like the plan, the elevations, and the decorative and symbolic repertoires, convert the cathedral into an authentic trans-Pyrenees building, away from the Hispanic current, which has earned it the qualifications of “the most French of Spanish cathedrals,” or the ''Pulchra Leonina''.
In addition to its layout, the Cathedral of Leon is also inspired by that of Rheims in its structure, the form of the chapels of its ambulatory (in this case polygonal), and the development of its transept. The influence of
Chartres Cathedral
Chartres Cathedral (, lit. Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres) is a Catholic cathedral in Chartres, France, about southwest of Paris, and is the seat of the List of bishops of Chartres, Bishop of Chartres. Dedicated in honour of the Virgin Mary ( ...
can be seen in the western porch. The one in Leon abandons the model of Rheims Cathedral in the elevations beyond the body of the clerestory, as it is transparent there and it accommodates the technical progress achieved in the
Sainte Chapelle in Paris and
Amiens Cathedral
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens (), or simply Amiens Cathedral, is a Catholic Church, Catholic cathedral. The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Amiens. It is situated on a slight ridge overlooking the River Somme in Amiens, the administra ...
.
French influence is also found in developing the
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
, where initially the choir was to be put according to their custom. Specifically Leonese is the location of the
cloister
A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...
, with no organic tie to the temple, the exit in the floor plan of the towers of the main façade, displaying the elevation of the
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...
es of the
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
, and the discontinuity of the five naves at the front end of the main area of the temple, which were reduced to three.
The problem was that a major part of the site sits upon Roman remains, hypocaust of the second century, which complicated the foundation of the pillars. The accumulation of moisture and water leakage caused serious problems for the master builders. Besides that, most of the stones were of mediocre quality, a type of
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
, with little resistance to atmospheric agents. Furthermore, the subtlety of its style was a challenge to its material; its numerous supports were extremely fragile, the lines are reduced to total optimization, in such a way that various architects of the time questioned the cathedral's ability to remain standing. This almost implausible structure, together with the poor quality of stone and foundation, caused it to suffer constant interventions and restorations since the 10th century, making the church a European paradigm of transformation intervention, restoration, and conservation.
Modifications and restorations
Extensive modifications and additions have been made to the cathedral, sometimes trying to improve its stability but also to adapt it to contemporary taste, until restorations beginning in the nineteenth century tried to remove most non-Gothic elements and restore the building to its original, purely Gothic state.
In the fifteenth century, the south tower was finished, in the
Flamboyant Gothic style. Also in this style was the library, currently the Chapel of Santiago, built by Juan de Badajoz el Viejo at the end of the century.
In the sixteenth century,
Juan de Badajoz started the addition of non-Gothic elements with the construction of a
plateresque
Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish language, Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially Architecture, architectural, developed in Spanish Empire, Spain and its territories, which appeared ...
gable in the Western façade, too tall and heavy. He also added a plateresque sacristy in the south-east end of the cathedral and rebuilt some vaults.
Serious problems started in the seventeenth century. Parts of the largest vault in the crossing fell down in 1631. It was replaced by a
baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
semicircular
dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
designed by
Juan de Naveda. This addition damaged the delicate balance of the whole building, causing cracks in the southern façade that needed restoration in the end of the century, including a new gable.
In the eighteenth century,
Joaquin de Churriguera tried to improve stability by adding four pinnacles around the dome, but this caused further damage. The cathedral was affected by the
Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Extensive rebuilding of the southern façade was done.
In 1857, stones started to fall down from the central nave and the crossing, causing fears of a complete collapse. Matías Laviña started a full restoration of the building in 1859. He dismantled the central dome and the pinnacles, parts of the transept and the southern façade.
After Laviña died in 1868,
Juan de Madrazo was commissioned to direct the restoration. He was a friend of
Viollet-le-Duc and had a good knowledge of the French Gothic style. The goal of his extensive work was making the Cathedral stable and restoring its original pure Gothic style. He placed a complex wooden support structure to keep the vaults in place and proceeded to rebuild the vaults and the southern façade. When the supports were removed in 1878 and the building resisted, it meant that the original Gothic balance system had been restored.
Madrazo's successors, Demetrio de los Ríos and Juan Bautista Lázaro, kept removing alien elements, like the plateresque gable in the Western façade, and replacing them with Neo-Gothic designs. The stained glass windows, that had been dismantled and stored for years, were restored after 1895. Finally, the cathedral was reopened in 1901, after one of the most complex and extensive restoration projects in nineteenth-century Europe.
Smaller restoration works were undertaken during the twentieth century. A fire caused by lightning consumed the rooftop on May 27, 1966, but the structure suffered no serious damage (thanks, partly, to the decision of not using too much water to put out the blaze). A general project to restore the stained glass started in 2009.
General characteristics
Generalities of Gothic architecture
In Gothic architecture, the use of
pointed arches (or ogival arches) and the
rib vault
A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic a ...
is generalized, thus concentrating the pressure on certain points and not on the entire wall, which allows for the making of slender cathedrals (on the one hand, the
arch
An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...
can be lengthened without expanding its width as it was in the Romanesque period which reduces pressure by making lighter roofs, allowing the walls to be opened.) The Romanesque
tribune
Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...
disappears and the lateral thrusts that it resolves are sent to the
flying buttress
The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of a ramping arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, to convey to the ground the lateral forces that push a wall ou ...
es, arches that transmit the thrust of the roof to the exterior
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...
es, which were previously topped with
pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...
s. The large stained-glass windows are a representation of Gothic interest in connecting with the people. For example, the sensation of verticality corresponds to the idea of the heavenly
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, in comparison to the sensation of hospitality and security for the faithful in the Romanesque. This type of construction used to have an odd number of naves (three or five) supported by quadripartite, sexpartite, tercelet, fan, or star rib vault.
The main façade is generally structures in three flared openings, consisting of
archivolt
An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental Molding (decorative), moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch.
It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, ...
s,
jamb
In architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and cons ...
s, and framed in a
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
, a gallery of
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
kings, a large
rose window
Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...
(in the central nave), an ''
andito'' (space through which the façade is accessed to perform possible reforms), and by two towers of different characteristics (roofed or not with an arrow-shaped pinnacle).
Architectural plan
The plan is almost a replica of the Reims Cathedral, although in a somewhat smaller format. It is 90 meters long, 30 meters high, and 29 meters wide. Divided in three
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
s, from the entrance to the
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...
, and in five names from the transept to the main altar. The cathedral shows ''
macrocephaly
Macrocephaly is a condition in which circumference of the human head is abnormally large. It may be pathological or harmless, and can be a Heredity, familial genetic characteristic. People diagnosed with macrocephaly will receive further medical ...
'', that is a roof larger than usual (the width of the transept in this case), which takes away some depth and perspective but instead provides more space for worshippers; being on the Way of Saint James, its influx is greater than other churches. The naves of the León Cathedral are covered with quadripartite rib vaults in rectangular sections. The transept is built with a quadripartite vault, which replaced the Baroque dome of the 17th century in the work undertaken at the end of the 19th century to be consistent with the rest of the construction. It has 125 windows, with 1800 meters² of polychrome stained glass of medieval origin, being considered one of the best in the world of its kind. Of them stands out the large central rose window located in the central
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...
, between the two spire towers, as well as those of the Main Chapel, the north transept, and the Chapel of Santiago.
A. Capilla Mayor
B. Choir
C. Crossing
D. Tombs
E. Nave
F. Towers
G. Cloisters
Bibliography
In Spanish
* Ricardo Puente, ''La Catedral de Santa María de León''. León, Imprenta Moderna. Editor Ricardo Puente.
* Luis A. Grau Lobo, ''La Catedral de León''. León, Editorial Everest.
* José Javier Rivera Blanco, ''Las Catedrales de Castilla y León'' (parte correspondiente a la catedral de León). León, Editorial Edilesa.
* Juan Eloy Díaz-Jiménez, ''Catedral de León. El retablo''. Madrid, Tipografía de la Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, 1907.
* Inventa Multimedia, ''La Catedral de León. Exposición: El sueño de la razón.''. Avilés, Inventa multimedia, S.L., 2001
web del proyecto*
In English
*
External links
InFocus: León Cathedral (León, Spain)a
HitchHikers HandbookOfficial Site of León CathedralWebcam of León Cathedral
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon Cathedral
León
Buildings and structures in León, Spain
Gothic architecture in León, Spain
13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain
Buildings and structures completed in 1302
Churches completed in the 1300s