Visiting the Cathedral | Official Tourism Website of Santiago de Compostela and its Surroundings

Interior: ground plan and naves

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
“Pórtico de la Gloria”

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
High altar

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
Exterior: squares and façades

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
Cathedral Museum, cloister and crypt

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
Cathedral rooftops

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

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Visiting the Cathedral

A practical way of touring and discovering Santiago Cathedral.

Visiting the Cathedral with tag Visitable

Interior: ground plan and naves

“Pórtico de la Gloria”

High altar

Exterior: squares and façades

Cathedral Museum, cloister and crypt

Cathedral rooftops

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