The Cathedral of Saint Mary the Royal of the Almudena (/ælˈmudɛnə/), commonly known as the Almudena Cathedral for short, is a Roman Catholiccathedral in Madrid, the capital city of Spain. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Madrid. A fairly young cathedral by Spanish standards, its construction began in 1883 and finished over a century later, when it was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993.[1]
It is located opposite the Royal Palace and much of its final appearance was defined considering this regal surrounding.[2]
History
When the capital of Spain was transferred from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, the seat of the Church in Spain remained in Toledo and the new capital had no cathedral. Plans for a cathedral in Madrid dedicated to the Virgin of Almudena were discussed as early as the 16th century but even though Spain built more than 40 cities overseas during that century, plenty of cathedrals and fortresses, the cost of expanding and keeping the Empire came first and the construction of Madrid's cathedral was postponed.
The building was designed by Francisco de Cubas. The original plan had been to create a parochial church. The foundation stone was laid in 1883, but when Pope Leo XIII granted a bull in 1885 for the creation of the Madrid-Alcalá bishopric, the plans for the church were changed to that of a Gothic revival cathedral.[2]
The cathedral seems to have been built on the site of a medieval mosque that was destroyed in 1083 when Alfonso VI reconquered Madrid.[3]
Construction was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, and the site lay abandoned until 1950,[2] when Fernando Chueca Goitia [es] adapted the plans of de Cubas to a baroque exterior to match the grey and white façade of the Palacio Real that stands directly opposite.[2]
The Neo-Gothic interior is uniquely modern, with chapels and statues of contemporary artists, in heterogeneous styles, from historical revivals to "pop-art" decor. The Blessed Sacrament Chapel features mosaics by Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik. The icons in the apse were painted by Kiko Argüello, artist and founder of the Neocatechumenal Way.
The Neo-Romanesquecrypt houses a 16th-century image of the Virgen de la Almudena. Nearby along the Calle Mayor, excavations have unearthed remains of Moorish and medieval city walls.
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