Religious, Spiritual sights in Spain
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The Cathedral
For three centuries following the Reconquista (Reconquest) in 1236, the Mezquita remained largely unaltered save for minor modifications such as the Mudejar tiling added in the 1370s to the Mozarabic and Almohad Capilla Real (located nine bays north and one east of the mihrab, and now part of the cathedral).
In the 16th century King Carlos I gave permission (against the wishes of Córdoba's city council) for the centre of the Mezquita to be ripped out to allow construction of the Capilla Mayor (the altar area in the cathedral) and coro (choir).However, the king was not enamoured with the results and famously regretted: 'You have built what you or others might have built …
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Convento de San Marcos & Museo de León
More than 100m long and blessed with a glorious façade, the Convento de San Marcos has more the appearance of a palace than the pilgrim's hospital it was from 1173. The Plateresque exterior, sectioned off by slender columns and decorated with delicate medallions and friezes, dates to 1513, by which time the edifice had become a monastery of the Knights of Santiago.
Much of the former convent is now the supremely elegant parador, Hostal de San Marcos. Although you need to stay here to appreciate its full splendour, the former chapterhouse, with its splendid artesonado, and the exquisite cloister are both open to the public. The cloister is technically part of the Museo de…
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Sinagoga Maj14
When an Argentine investor bought a run-down electrician’s store with an eye to converting it into central Barcelona’s umpteenth bar, he could hardly have known he had stumbled onto the remains of what could be the city’s main medieval synagogue (some historians cast doubt on the claim). Remnants of medieval and Roman-era walls remain in the small vaulted space that you enter from the street. Also remaining are tanners’ wells installed in the 15th century. The second chamber has been spruced up for use as a synagogue. A remnant of late-Roman-era wall here, given its orientation facing Jerusalem, has led some to speculate that there was a synagogue here even in Roman times…
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Església de Sants Just I Pastor
This somewhat neglected, single-nave church, with chapels on either side of the buttressing, was built in 1342 in Catalan Gothic style on what is reputedly the site of the oldest parish church in Barcelona. Inside, you can admire some fine stained-glass windows. In front of it, in a pretty little square that was used as a set (a smelly Parisian marketplace) in 2006 for Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, is what is claimed to be the city’s oldest Gothic fountain. On the morning of 11 September 1924, Antoni Gaudí was arrested as he attempted to enter the church from this square to attend Mass. In those days of the dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera, it took little to ru…
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Catedral del Apóstol
Anyone who has journeyed along the Camino de Santiago will hardly be disappointed on finally entering Praza do Obradoiro to behold the lavish baroque façade of the Catedral del Apóstol. Before this elaborately festive façade was built in the 18th century, the less overwhelming but artistically unparalleled Pórtico de la Gloria (Galician: Porta da Gloria) - now behind the baroque façade - was the first scene to greet weary pilgrims.
The bulk of the cathedral was built between 1075 and 1211, in Romanesque style, and the Pórtico de la Gloria was its original façade. Much of the 'bunting' (the domes, statues and endless flourishes) came later.
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Cathedral
This building is composed of two 13th-century Gothic churches, one above the other. The upper church, off which is a 14th-century cloister, was extensively rebuilt after the 1941 fire. In the lower 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, found on this site, prompted the construction of the monastery that previously stood here.
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Mosteiro de San Paio de Antealtares
Across the plaza from the Puerta Santa is the long, stark wall of the Mosteiro de San Paio de Antealtares, founded by Alfonso II for Benedictine monks to look after St James' relics, and converted to a nunnery in 1499.
Climbing the steps at the top of the plaza you'll find the entrance to the convent, above which stands the beatific figure of the 10th-century Galician child saint San Paio, his throat being slashed in reference to his martyrdom in Córdoba. Keep an eye out for the sacred art museum, containing the original alter raised over the Santiago relics.
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La Catedral
Barcelona’s central place of worship presents a magnificent image. The richly decorated main (northwest) façade, laced with gargoyles and the stone intricacies you would expect of northern European Gothic, sets it quite apart from other churches in Barcelona. The façade was actually added in 1870, although it is based on a 1408 design. The rest of the building was built between 1298 and 1460. The other façades are sparse in decoration, and the octagonal, flat-roofed towers are a clear reminder that, even here, Catalan Gothic architectural principles prevailed.
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Església de Sant Pau del Camp
Back in the 9th century, when monks founded the monastery of Sant Pau del Camp (St Paul in the Fields), it was a good walk from the city gates amid fields and gardens. Today, the church and cloister, erected in the 12th century and partly surrounded by the trees of a small garden, are located on a fairly down-at-heel street and surrounded by dense inner-city housing. The doorway to the church bears rare Visigothic sculptural decoration, predating the Muslim invasion of Spain. Inside, the beautiful Romanesque cloister is the main reason for dropping by.
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Església de Sant Pere de les Puelles
Not a great deal remains of the original church or convent that has stood here since early medieval times. The church’s pre-Romanesque Greek-cross floor plan survives, as do some Corinthian columns beneath the 12th-century dome and a much-damaged Renaissance vault leading into a side chapel. It was around this church that the first settlement began to take place in La Ribera beyond the original city walls. In 985, a Muslim raiding force under Al-Mansur attacked Barcelona and largely destroyed the convent, killing or capturing the nuns.
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Església de la Puríssima Concepció i Assumpció de Nostra Senyora
One hardly expects to run into a medieval church on the grid pattern streets of the late-19th-century city extension, yet that is just what this is. Transferred stone by stone from the old centre in 1871–88, this 14th-century church has a pretty 16th-century cloister with a peaceful garden. Behind is a Romanesque-Gothic bell tower (11th to 16th century), moved from another old town church that didn’t survive, Església de Sant Miquel. This is one of a handful of such old churches shifted willy-nilly from their original locations to l’Eixample.
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Concatedral de Santa María
The Concatedral de Santa María, a 15th-century Gothic cathedral, creates an impressive opening scene. On its southwestern corner is a modern statue of San Pedro de Alcántara, a 16th-century extremeño ascetic (his toes worn shiny by the hands and lips of the faithful). Inside, there’s a magnificent carved 16th-century cedar altarpiece, several fine noble tombs and chapels, and a small ecclesiastical museum. Climb the bell tower for stunning views.
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Iglesia del Cristo de la Expiración
Triana has several diverse and important churches and chapels. Among the most important is the Iglesia del Cristo de la Expiración, which houses a much loved figure of the dead Christ, dating from 1682, that takes an honoured place in Seville's Semana Santa processions. The image is known as El Cachorro (The Puppy): sculptor Antonio Ruiz Gijón was reputedly inspired by the agonised body of a gitano singer of that name who had died in a fight in this street.
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Museo Sefardi
The synagogue now houses the Museo Sefardi. The vast main prayer hall has been expertly restored and the Mudéjar decoration and intricately carved (and colourful) wooden ceiling are striking. Exhibits provide an insight into the history of Jewish culture in Spain, and include archaeological finds, a memorial garden with tombstones inscribed in Hebrew, typical costumes of the Sephardic Jews and ceremonial artefacts.
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Església de la Mercè
Raised in the 1760s on the site of its Gothic predecessor, the baroque Església de la Mercè is home to Barcelona’s most celebrated patron saint. It was badly damaged during the civil war. What remains is, however, quite a curiosity. The baroque facade facing the square contrasts with the Renaissance flank along Carrer Ample. The latter was actually moved here from another nearby church that was subsequently destroyed in the 1870s.
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Coro, La Catedral
In the middle of the central nave is the late-14th-century, exquisitely sculpted timber coro. The coats of arms on the stalls belong to members of the Barcelona chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Emperor Carlos V presided over the order’s meeting here in 1519. Take the time to look at the workmanship up close – the Virgin Mary and Child depicted on the pulpit are especially fine.
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Cathedral
Tarragona's cathedral is a treasure house deserving 1½ hours or more of your time, if you're to do it justice. Built between 1171 and 1331 on the site of a Roman temple, it combines Romanesque and Gothic features, as typified by the main facade on Pla de la Seu. The entrance is by the cloister on the northwest flank of the building.
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Iglesia de San Luis
One of Seville’s most impressive churches, Iglesia de San Luis stands 500m south of the Basílica de La Macarena. Designed for the Jesuits by Leonardo de Figueroa in 1731, the baroque San Luis has an unusual equal-armed cross plan, 16 twisting stone pillars and a superb soaring dome. Look out for the human skulls with crowns of flowers.
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Mosteiro de San Martiño Pinario Church
The huge Benedictine Mosteiro de San Martiño Pinario, a seminary that's closed to the public except in summer, when it opens as a hostal. The monastery's elaborate baroque church now operates as a museum featuring the beautifully carved Renaissance choir stalls originally used in the cathedral.
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Shrine of Our Lady of Europe
The southern tip of Gibraltar is known as Europa Point, the location of Gibraltar's first lighthouse, sacked by the infamous corsair (pirate), Barbarossa. It is also the site of the Christian Shrine of Our Lady of Europe, whose 15th-century statue of the Virgin and Child was miraculously unscathed during the pirate's devastating attack.
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Església de Sant Miquel del Port
Finished in 1755, this sober baroque church was the first building completed in La Barceloneta. Built low so that the cannon in the then Ciutadella fort could fire over it if necessary, it bears images of St Michael (Miquel) and two other saints considered protectors of the Catalan fishing fleet: Sant Elm and Santa Maria de Cervelló.
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Ibrahim-Al-Ibrahim Mosque
A symbol of the racial and religious symbiosis of Gibraltar's past and, to some degree its present, is the Ibrahim-Al-Ibrahim Mosque, opened in 1997. It was built at the behest of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to cater for all the Moroccans working on the Rock and is said to be the largest mosque in a non-Islamic country.
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Cabildo
The beautifully domed Cabildo, in the southeastern corner of the cathedral, was built between 1558 and 1592 to the designs of Hernán Ruiz, architect of the Giralda belfry. High above the archbishop's throne at the southern end is a Murillo masterpiece, La Inmaculada. Eight Murillo saints adorn the dome.
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Jewish Quarter
Near the Museo de El Greco is what was once the judería (Jewish Quarter). 'Once' because, as a huge plaque in the cathedral proudly proclaims, the bulk of Toledo's Jews, like those elsewhere in Spain, were expelled in 1492. In the centuries prior to this, Toledo's Jews worshipped in 11 synagogues.
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Capilla del Rocío
In the southern part of Triana, the Capilla del Rocío is home to the Hermandad del Rocío de Triana. The departure of this brotherhood’s procession of horses and covered wagons to El Rocío on the Thursday before Pentecost is one of the most colourful and emotive events in the Seville calendar.
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