Salamanca’s Cathedrals

Salamanca has two cathedrals, built side by side and joined together: the Romanesque Old Cathedral of the 12th century, and the towering late-Gothic New Cathedral, begun in 1512–13, which leans against it. One ticket covers both, and a walkway through the towers takes you over their roofs. They stand at the heart of Salamanca’s golden-stone old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Old and new

The Old Cathedral, Santa María de la Sede, was begun in the first half of the 12th century and built over the following century or so, with chapels added later. By the early 16th century Salamanca, home of one of the oldest universities in Europe, wanted something grander. Rather than demolish the old church, the canons built the new one alongside it, so that the Old Cathedral survived almost intact. The New Cathedral was begun in 1512–13 under Juan Gil de Hontañón and Juan de Álava, continued by Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón, and finished only in 1733, still in a late-Gothic style mixed with later Baroque.

The Lisbon earthquake of 1 November 1755 cracked the New Cathedral’s dome and left its bell tower leaning; the tower was bound with chains and cased in new stone, and it still leans slightly. Every 31 October a man in traditional dress, the “Mariquelo”, climbs to the top of the tower to give thanks that the city was spared.

The visitor’s cheat sheet

What to see

The New Cathedral

The visit starts in the New Cathedral: tall, light, and crowded with chapels. Look up at the ribbed vaults and the dome over the crossing, rebuilt after the earthquake. In the middle of the nave stands the Baroque choir, carved by the Churriguera family in the 18th century, with two great organs above it. The west front is a mass of Plateresque carving around the main door.

The Old Cathedral

From the New Cathedral you pass into the Old Cathedral, which feels a world away: simple Romanesque arches and, behind the altar, a 15th-century altarpiece of 53 painted panels attributed to the Florentine Delli brothers, beneath a fresco of the Last Judgement. Above the crossing rises the Torre del Gallo, a dome covered in stone scales. Around the cloister are the chapels, among them the Capilla de Santa Bárbara, where students of the university once kept vigil before their final examination.

Ieronimus: the towers and roofs

A separate visit, Ieronimus, climbs through the medieval towers to galleries and terraces over both cathedrals, with close views of the Torre del Gallo and across the city. It takes about an hour, with about 200 steps, and on Friday and Saturday evenings there are night visits.

The astronaut

On the Puerta de Ramos, the north door facing the Plaza de Anaya, look among the carving for a small astronaut and, a little way off, a creature eating an ice cream. They are not medieval: a stonemason carved them during the restoration of 1992, a modern signature in the old tradition of masons leaving their mark.

Getting there

The cathedrals are in the southern part of the old city, about ten minutes’ walk from the Plaza Mayor and close to the university. Direct trains from Madrid-Chamartín take about an hour and forty minutes, and direct buses about two and a half hours. For the classic view, cross the Roman bridge over the Tormes and look back.

Don’t miss

• The Old Cathedral altarpiece Fifty-three painted panels.
• The Torre del Gallo Best seen from the roofs.
• The Capilla de Santa Bárbara Where students sat their final examinations.
• The astronaut On the north door, 1992 vintage.
• The Roman bridge view At sunset, or floodlit at night.

Insider tips

More churches in Spain

• Segovia Cathedral — the other great late-Gothic cathedral of Castile, begun by the same Juan Gil de Hontañón.
• León Cathedral — the French-style Gothic cathedral of glass, further north.
• Santiago de Compostela Cathedral — the pilgrims’ cathedral, at the end of the Camino.

See all the Spanish churches in this guide →