Ciudad Rodrigo Cathedral

The story of Ciudad Rodrigo Cathedral

The Cathedral of Saint Mary in Ciudad Rodrigo is a Roman Catholic cathedral whose best-known features include four doors and a tower rebuilt in the late 18th century after an earthquake collapse. It was declared Bien de Interés Cultural on 15 September 1889.

Built in the 12th century, the cathedral belongs to Romanesque architecture. In the episciple-side transept, a Gothic frieze carries twelve figures from the Old Testament, and the tympanum holds four Romanesque figures that were placed there in the Modern Age: Saint John, Saint Peter, Christ Pantocrator, Saint Paul, and Saint James. In the other transept, the Puerta de Amayuelas opens with a multi-lobed arch.

The tower was raised by Juan de Sagarvinaga at the end of the 18th century in a neoclassical style, after the second tower collapsed during the Lisbon earthquake. The cathedral had also had a third tower, which was demolished after the communal war.

Ciudad Rodrigo Cathedral is also remembered for its musical life: the Renaissance composers Juan Navarro Hispalensis and his pupil Juan Esquivel Barahona both served as choirmasters there. It includes the Ciudad Rodrigo altarpiece, and today it remains a Catholic cathedral at the center of the city’s religious heritage.