Santander Cathedral

The Cathedral of Santander or Cathedral of the Assumption ( Spanish Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción ) is a Roman Catholic church in Santander , the capital of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria in northern Spain . The cathedral of the diocese of Santander is consecrated to Mary the Mother of God with the invocation of the Assumption of Mary and also bears the title of a minor basilica .

Side facade of the cathedral

history

The cathedral was built between the 12th and 14th centuries on the Somorrostro hill as the church of an abbey founded in 1187. With the establishment of the diocese of Santander by Pope Benedict XIV in 1754, the collegiate church (colegiata) was elevated to the rank of cathedral. The abbey church was dedicated to Saints Emetherius and Chelidonius ; probably with the beginning of the use as a collegiate church, the patronage was changed. The building suffered significant damage as a result of the steamship explosion of the freighter Cabo Machichaco in the port in 1893. In 1931 the building was recognized as a national monument. It was badly damaged in the city fire of 1941 and rebuilt between 1942 and 1953.

architecture

The cathedral consists of two parts built on top of each other.

Lower church

The squat three-nave lower church Iglesia del Santisimo Cristo is an early Gothic crypt and was built around 1200. It is 31 m long and 18 m wide and is accessible through two portals. Roman foundations and parts of a thermal bath can be seen through glass plates in the floor. The lower church is vaulted with ribs, the ribs of the apse are profiled, those of the nave are not. In the lower church, the two main relics, the skulls of the martyrs Emeterio and Celedonio, are presented behind silver masks. The two saints are the patron saints of the city.

Upper Church

The basilically tiered upper church was built between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 14th century and is based on the floor plan of the lower church. Add to this the octagonal baroque Vierungs lantern with a flat roof in exterior and stellar vault inside. The main portal, which was built around 1230, shows one of the first coats of arms that appeared after the unification of the kingdoms of Castile and León at the time of Ferdinand III. of Castile shows lions and castles. A massive square bell tower (campanario) rises above the portico . Several side chapels were added between the 15th and 17th centuries.

When the reconstruction was completed in 1953, the capacity of the church was significantly increased by adding the transept , the apse and the ambulatory while maintaining the Gothic style. The eye-catcher inside is the late Baroque, gilded altarpiece (retablo) .

Reclining figure of Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo

Furnishing

The furnishings that were lost in the fire in 1941 were replaced by the choir stalls (sillería) from the Madrid monastery of San Jerónimo el Real and pictures from other churches. In honor of the literary scholar and critic Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo, who died in 1912, a cenotaph made of black and white stone was set up here.

Cloister

Adjacent to the church, the gothic cloister was built in the 15th century on the south side and is well worth seeing , in which several sarcophagi and cenotaphs are shown.