Catedral de la Asunción

Santander's cathedral is composed of two Gothic churches, one above the other. The 14th-century upper church, off which is a 15th-century cloister, was extensively rebuilt after the 1941 fire. In the lower, 13th-century, Iglesia del Santísimo Cristo, glass panels reveal excavated bits of Roman Santander under the floor. Displayed nearby are silver vessels containing the skulls of the early Christian martyrs San Emeterio and San Celedonio, Santander's patron saints. The care of these holy relics, brought (according to legend) from La Rioja to escape the Muslim invasion, prompted the construction of the monastery that originally stood here.