Cathedral
1 hourThe Old Cathedral
Dedicated to Saint Mary of the See, it was built throughout the 12th and 13th centuries. It is presented as a temple with basilical plan of three naves and cruise developed in plant and height, forming a Latin cross. Of Romanesque invoice as a whole, the building is finished with vaults of transition to the Gothic. Among the masters who directed the work, the documents preserved in the Cathedral Archive mention the following: Florín de Pituenga, Casandro Romano, Alvar García, Pedro de la Obra, Juan el Pedrero, Sancho Pedro, Juan Franco or Petrus Petri.
The main cover
Although it has lost part of its original artistic value after a great reform suffered in the seventeenth century for being very deteriorated its elements, inside it retains two statues that mark the access, representing the scene of the Annunciation.
The Church Plant
It measures 52 meters long, 9.20 m wide and 16.70 m high; and side ships 50 x 5.50 x 11.20 meters respectively. To these correspond, in logical proportion, the three apses of the Main Chapel and side chapels.
The central ship
It shows a moment of transition to the Gothic, being covered with pointed arches and crossing vaults, received on supports prepared to hold at first a barrel vault pointed with ridge arches, which forced the final introduction of other elements, such as the mensulones in which the nerves rest, to properly accommodate the new solution. The capitals and shelves are decorated with figures of biblical characters, animals, vegetable decoration and masks. The nerve-statues located above the mensulons of the vault are singular examples that stand out inside the old church.
The New Cathedral
The New Cathedral, attached to the Old, began to be built in 1513, opening in August 1733. In the initial promotion the Catholic Monarchs intervened, at the request of the Cathedral Council, who, with the successive bishops, always acted as the main promoter.
Among the great master architects who directed the works for almost two and a half centuries include, among others, Juan and Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón, Juan de Álava, Juan Setién Güemes, Pantaleón Pontón, the brothers Churriguera and Juan de Sagarbinaga. It began to be built in late Gothic style and, although it enjoys the use of some other later styles, it will retain until the end a stylistic unity in this art, imposed and loved by the Cabildo. It is a rectangular church, composed of three naves and niche chapels between buttresses. It is covered by vaults of crossing with terceletes and combados drawing complex and beautiful starry designs, in which the keys shine especially. On the cruise stands a magnificent cimborrio formed by ochavado body on pechinas with monumental reliefs of the Marian mysteries, surpassed by a luminous cylindrical drum released thanks to the wide windows and semi-spherical dome. On the outside he finishes in a false lantern; was completed by Juan Sagarbinaga in 1765.
The Church receives the light of almost a hundred stained glass windows, originally from Flanders those that show a biblical episode. In its walls there are also two corridas galleries, on two heights, numerous medallions with busts of prophets, evangelists, characters of the Holy Scriptures and doctors, and many other cathedral shields with the sugarcane bucaro.
Free visit price
- Individual (Incluida Audioguía. ENTRADA GRATUITA: Martes de 16:00 a 18:00 (último acceso: 17:00) ) - 10.00 €
- Niños familia numerosa - 6.00 €
- Desempleados - 6.00 €
- Adultos familia numerosa - 9.00 €
- Discapacitados
- Discapacidad entre 33%-64% - 9.00 €
- Discapacidad mayor 64% - 0.00 €
- Peregrinos - 9.00 €
- Grupos escolares - 7.00 €
- Grupos (Número mínimo: 20) - 7.00 €
- Niños (Edad máxima: 6) - 0.00 €
- Estudiantes (Tener una edad comprendida entre los 17 y los 30 años) - 9.00 €
- Mayores 65 - 9.00 €
- Clero - 0.00 €
- Naturales diocesis salamanca - 0.00 €
The floor and elevation of the building maintain a Gothic uniformity and the external presence of bunkers and buttresses, as well as the interior elevation of the ships attest.
The interior of the cathedral is very similar to that of the cathedral of Seville. However, despite the fact that the lateral naves are not at the same height as the central one, following the "ad triangulum" scheme typical of the Gothic, the church gives the impression of great amplitude and luminosity for the compensation in height and the achievement of the interior space. The triforium, typical of the constructions from the late Romanesque, is replaced by two tribunes run throughout the perimeter of the cathedral and at two heights, which allows to raise even more the lateral naves. The pillars collect the weight of the vaults where each of the nerves of the same descends to the ground by the pillar in a thin column that helps you to discharge the weight. The vaults have all kinds of combinations of nerves, warped and terceletes, which make them very attractive for their variety and complexity of work.
The Night View Tower
North Side Ship
The New Cathedral has a floor plan with three naves and two more of chapels-hornacina, which were completed in 1520 by Juan Gil de Hontañón on the left and Juan de Álava on the right. In 1538 Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón became the master builder of the cathedral, after the death of his father Juan Gil de Hontañón. In principle a gyro was projected for the headboard and polygonal apses, but the delay in the work made the criterion change to that of a flat headboard, a decision taken in 1584 by the then master major Juan Ribero de Rada, following the headboard model designed by Juan de Herrera in the Cathedral of Valladolid. In 1588 the Cantabrian master Juan de Nates was called for the continuation of the works.
The original cimborrio was erected by Joaquín Churriguera when the works were resumed, after being stopped for almost the entire seventeenth century, due to lack of budget. It was finished in 1725 and it seems that it was similar to the cathedral of Burgos, with ribs and baroque decoration. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 quaked the central dome being replaced by another neoclassical one made by the architect Juan de Sagarvinaga, which is the one that can be contemplated today.