Following the French model of Romanesque pilgrimage churches, the Cathedral of Santiago’s interior space has a traditional Latin-cross layout with three naves per arm. The main nave measures, from west to east, around 94 metres long... read more
The Cathedral’s west entrance was finished in 1188 with the culmination of Romanesque sculpture: the “Pórtico de la Gloria.” This magnificent series of three arches, sculpted by Maestro Mateo in only 20 years, endows the... read more
The high altar reflects the lavish baroque intervention in the Romanesque Cathedral. To “brush up” the old 12th-century altar, it was surrounded by 36 Solomonic re-gilded columns covered with vine tendrils. Finally, the Romanesque... read more
The “Botafumeiro” is a giant censer, used since the Middle Ages to purify the air in a Cathedral that was full of crowds. Today, 800 years later, it continues to marvel those present when, after communion, the baroque organs play the... read more
The medieval Cathedral’s three main entrances still exist today, although due to successive modifications, they lost the unity of their iconographic programmes, which depicted the history of Salvation. Pilgrims originally entered through... read more
We can only fully understand the Cathedral of Santiago by entering the doors of its valuable museum. Touring the museum has the charm of an exciting journey through time, because it combines admirable architectural spaces (which cannot otherwise... read more
The visit to the Cathedral rooftops includes two consecutive guided tours: the Archbishop’s Palace of Gelmírez and going up to the church’s rooftops.
You enter via Gelmírez Palace, considered one of the main... read more
Fifty years after archaeological excavations in the Cathedral, the Cathedral Chapter offers the public the unique possibility of going down to the church’s subsoil and contemplating Santiago de Compostela’s ancient history in stone.read more