Lugo Cathedral

Historia

Saint Mary's Cathedral, better known as Lugo Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic church and basilica in Lugo, Galicia, north-western Spain. The cathedral was erected in the early 12th century in a Romanesque style, with Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassicist elements.HistoryA church existed in the site from 755. In 1129 Bishop Peter III commissioned a new edifice in the latest architectural style from Raimundo, a local architect and builder. This Romanesque structure was completed in 1273.Later renovations and restorations added elements in other styles, such as the Renaissance retablo at the high altar. It was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and fragments of it are housed in the church.The cathedral received from the Pope the privilege to permanently expose the Holy Sacrament.StructureThe cathedral has a Latin Cross structure, with a length of 85 m. It has a nave, covered by a barrel vault, and two aisles, with an ambulatory and five apse chapels. The triforium features triple ogival mullioned windows. The apse houses a calvary sculpture from an unknown date.

"La catedral de Lugo invita a viajar por la historia, reflejada en sus muros como un gran libro abierto. Historia que se inicia en época tardorromana, tras la fundación de la ciudad por los romanos. Con la posterior evangelización, se construyó un templo en este mismo lugar, en torno al siglo I. No hay noticias de lo que pudo haber sido aquella primera iglesia de Lugo, pero si se conoce que a mediados del siglo VIII el obispo Odoario la restauró."