Alvaro Manzano Medina 2esoA. Cathedral of Leon

Santa Maria cathedral , also called The House of Light or the Pulchra Leonina is situated in the city of Leon north-western Spain. It was built on the site of previous Roman baths of the 2nd century which, 800 years later, king Ordoño ll converted into a palace.
CURRENT STRUCTURE
The León Cathedral, dedicated to Santa Maria de la regla , was declared of Cultural Interest in 1844.

The main façade has two towers. The southern tower is known as the 'clock tower'. The interior represents a combination of architecture, painting, sculpture and other arts.

It has three portals decorated with sculptures situated in the pointed arches between the two towers. The central section has a large rose window.

Its almost 1,800 square meters of stained glass windows are one of the main touristic attractions of the cathedral. The great majority of them are original, which is a rarity, and date from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. They are among the world's finest stained glass works.

The Cathedral Museum houses a large collection of sacred art.

The Cathedral is also one of the three most important Cathedrals on The Way of Saint James (or in Spanish, El Camino de santiago). Along with The Burgos Cathedral and the Cathedral in Santiago De Compostela, it is visited a lot and it is a holy worshipping place, and very sacred to the people of its city. It is one of the things that makes Leon so famous, and one of the main stops on the camino. There is a little cafe just outside the cathedral that is very busy most of the time because there are many tourists stopping by the cathedral.

HISTORY
   The Roman baths and the first cathedral

Originally, under the current location of the cathedral, the Legio VII Gemina had built the baths, with a size larger than the current building. During the great restorations of the nineteenth century its remains were discovered, and in 1997 others were explored near the south façade.

During the Christian reconquest the ancient Roman baths were converted into a royal palace. King Ordoño ll, who had occupied the throne of Leon in 916, defeated the Arabs in the Batlle of San Esteban de Gormaz in 917. As a sign of gratitude to God for victory, he gave up his palace to build the first cathedral. Under the episcopate of Fruminio II, the building was transformed into a sacred place. The tomb of Ordoño II of Leon, who died in 924, is found in the cathedral.

   The Roman cathedral

With the help of Princess Teresa Urraca of Navarre , sister of the king, the construction of a second cathedral, was started in line with the aspirations of Roman Christianity, and within its architecture. It fell within the Pelayo II episcopal see. Its style was essentially Roman, built in brick and masonry, with three naves finished in semicircular apses, the central one dedicated to Saint Mary, as in the previous church. Although the cathedral was built according to international trends, a close examination of what has survived of its original facade, its originally indigenous nature can be noted. There is still the use of the horseshoe arch, at least decoratively. The cathedral was consecrated on November 10, 1073 during the reign of Alfonso VL. Presumably the same masons who were building the Basilica of San Isodoro of Leon worked on it.

         The Third Cathedral
Construction of the third cathedral began around 1205, but construction problems with the foundation soon caused the work to be paralyzed, and the task not to resume until 1255 under the pontificate of Bishop Martín Fernández with the support of King Alfonso X the wise of Castile and León. This was an entirely new cathedral of Gothic style. The architect of the cathedral seems to have been the master Enrique, perhaps a native of France, who had previously worked on the Cathedral of Burgos. Clearly, he knew the Gothic architectural form of the Isle of France. He died in 1277 and was replaced by the Spaniard Juan Perez. In 1289, Bishop Martín Fernández was also dying when the front of the temple was already open for worship. The basic structure of the cathedral was finished soon, and in 1302 Bishop Gonzalo Osorio opened the whole church to the faithful. However, during the fourteenth century the cloister, the north end tower were at last to be finished, and the south tower was not completed until the second half of the fifteenth century. This relative promptness in the works gives great unity to the architecture.