Santander Cathedral

The Cathedral of Santander is not your typical European cathedral.

It’s a complex of Gothic buildings built between the 12th and 18th centuries. It consists of two joined churches built on an incline on the hill of Somorrostro. The lower church is the oldest and recent excavations have uncovered baths and other artifacts from an ancient Roman settlement, all of which can be seen via a glass floor. One of the things that most struck my attention was the silver heads on one side of the cathedral. The real heads of the martyrs San Emeterio and Celedonio are said to be kept inside.

The upper church has been expanded several times and its ceilings are much higher and are supported by Gothic arches. It's all very austere in terms of decoration. It has two different bell towers and several chapels. You can also visit the cloister which, for me, was the most beautiful part.

I want to post my first experience on minube so I've decided to go with one of my hobbies: visiting cathedrals. I recently had the chance to explore one that was until now unknown to me: the Cathedral of Santander.

Outside, it looks like a simple church in the center of a city; decently high, with a small door, some arches, and a Gothic cloister similar to that of any great Spanish cathedral. From there, you enter through a monumental gateway into this three-halled temple.

The collection of iconography is no big deal. There's the tomb of Menéndez y Pelayo, an interesting Baroque altarpiece (not the presbytery), and some masonry fixtures. However, structurally, it’s just magnificent and really worth visiting.

Indeed, Santander Cathedral does not meet the standard we all expect from a building of this type: it’s overly simple, but everything has its explanation.

Originally, it was both a place of worship and a watchtower for the town since it occupied the highest point and could see suspicious ships entering the bay. It also served to watch over the shipyards located at its feet (where today there is a square of the same name).

That’s why it looks a bit like a fortress with few windows and thick stone walls; it certainly endured more than one attack. We must mention the terrible event that Santander suffered in 1941, when a wild fire destroyed the entire old city of Puebla, including the cathedral, which had to be rebuilt.