Cathedrals in Spain

The cathedrals in Spain are the diocesan catholic churches in the Spanish land and a very important part of the Historical Heritage of Spain. They have a great historical, religious and architectural value. For centuries, the Spanish cities were built around them. That is pointed in the National Programme of Cathedrals, that pretends to protect and conserve a total of 91 temples, which includes cathedrals, co-cathedrals, former cathedrals, and the outstanding non-cathedral church of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona.

The concathedrals are the temples in the second diocesan city, when the Episcopal see is divided between two cities.

Cathedrals are usually large and a huge amount of resorts where needed for their construction. Building them often required several centuries, so they sometimes are the result of different ages and architectural styles.

In the beginning the temple's head was built and the major altar was consecrated for celebrating the worship. After that the construction was followed with the cross and the naves. As this the more recent stiles, like baroque and neoclassical, were developed with the edification very advanced, and having the need of keeping the architectural stile of the original project, the architects of the recent stiles looked for hole rooms and new facades, so they could have more freedom and less restrictions.

The construction was financed with the diocese mains, with royal or obispal contributions, or with the faithful donations. According to this, the bigger diocese and the most significant city was, the most important cathedral could usually be built.

Classification by diocese

See also

* List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of Spain