Valencia Cathedral

Brief Information

Valencia Cathedral is interesting because its unity did not appear all at once. The present building was constructed in the 13th-15th centuries, but the place of worship here had changed long before that: an ancient temple, the first Visigothic cathedral, a mosque, and then a Christian church again. From the ancient layer, columns remain right next to the cathedral and are kept in the Almoina Museum, so the site's past cannot be reduced to legend.

The cathedral itself also did not grow as a single finished project. The old chapter house, where the clergy discussed internal affairs, and the bell tower initially stood separately. When the naves were extended by one more bay in 1459, these parts were incorporated into the overall volume. Inside is kept the “Santo Cáliz,” a cup with Arabic inscriptions presented as the Holy Grail: this detail sharply changes the way one views the relic, because its material appearance bears the trace of a different cultural environment.

What to Notice First

It makes sense to compare not the “beauty of the facade,” but the different languages of a single building. The eastern door belongs to the Romanesque style, the western one bears the influence of French Gothic, the northwestern arcade is connected with the Italian Renaissance, the southern door is Baroque, and the bell tower belongs to Valencian Gothic. These elements show that the cathedral was assembled over centuries, and each side preserves its own moment of construction or alteration.

Inside, the same principle can be read through form and decoration. The basis consists of three naves, a transept with a dome, an ambulatory, and a polygonal apse. In the 18th century, there was an attempt to hide the Gothic under neoclassical stucco, gilding, and pseudo-classical decor; even the stained-glass windows were masked. In 1972, almost all of this was removed, but some side chapels, the ambulatory, and the sculptures on the dome pendentives retained their classical ornamentation. Therefore, it is more useful to look not for one style, but for the places where the Gothic foundation and the later shell still touch.