It was erected under orders from Archbishop Jiménez de Rada, during the reign of Ferdinand III the Saint.
The building
Built in the 12th century Gothic style, the cathedral was built on the site of a former mosque, which had in turn been erected over a former Visigoth cathedral. It represents the definitive consolidation of Cluniacensian Gothic over the Spanish Muslim Mudéjar style. The first architects mentioned in relation to this cathedral are Martín and Petrus Petri, both of whom were linked to the city of Paris. On the outside it looks strange, as it was initially intended to be a copy of Bourges Cathedral in France, although it acquired its own personality later on.
Work on the cathedral, which commenced in the year 1226, did not finish until the 15th century and it took until the 18th century for 'El Transparente', the Baroque altar, to be completed.
Double ambulatory
This was an innovation in Gothic architecture and from an architectural viewpoint, it is the most interesting feature of the building. Its creator designed the sanctuary of the church by alternating rectangular and triangular sections, resulting in 15 chapels of different sizes. This lightened the counterforts that were reinforced with forked flying buttresses. This gave the apse an unprecedented lightness. The ambulatory and the main chapel are adorned with a triforium whose lobulated arches clearly betray a Mudéjar influence.
The five doors
The oldest one, which dates from the 15th century, is called the Kings' or the Clock Door, depicting scenes from the life of Our Lady. The most interesting one is the Lions' Door, which was built in the 15th century by Hannequin and Egas and remodelled in the 17th century by Salvatierra and Durango.
There are three doors on the main façade: the Door of Pardon, which is the central one and which is only opened on special occasions; the Tower Door or Door of Hell and the Scribes' Door or the Door of Judgement.
Main Chapel
This chapel was remodelled in Cardinal Cisnero's time, in the 16th century. It may be contemplated through a beautiful grille dating from 1548, made by the artist Francisco Villalpando. This chapel houses various funeral monuments, such as those of Cardinal Mendoza, Alfonso VI and his wife or Sancho IV.
The Main Altar is made of wood coated in polychromatic gold panels and with a flamboyant Gothic structure. It is a veritable jewel made of polychromatic stoved wood, depicting the life of Christ. On either side, there are bronze pulpits made by Francisco Villalpando.
The choir
It divides the main nave and is exceptionally beautiful. Rodrigo Alemán engraved the events of the battle of Granada on the Renaissance-style stalls.
Roof
Very high ogival vaults with huge windows. The initial project included a double triforium, which was not built. The magnificent stained glass windows were made during the 14th and 16th centuries.
The towers
Two towers at the foot of the monument were planned, but only the one corresponding to the most northerly nave was built. It is crowned by a beautiful flamboyant spire by Hannequin of Brussels and houses the famous S. Eugenio bell, which weighs over 18 tonnes.
El transparente (altar)
It is a huge marble altarpiece, criticised by some and praised by others. It is illuminated by a break in the vault of the first ambulatory. It was completed by Narciso Tomé.
Address:
C/ Cardenal Cisneros, 1
Tel. no. 925 222241
Timetable: Weekdays: From 10:30 to 18:30 H
Sundays and bank holidays: From 14 to 18:30 H
It was founded and financed by Samuel H. Leví, treasurer to King Pedro I the Cruel, who consented to this building to compensate for the tribulations of the Jewish community in the struggles between the latter king and the Trastámara dynasty.
The building
Its real name is the Samuel H.Leví synagogue. The name 'of the Transit' is derived from a painting by Correa (now at the Prado museum) depicting Our Lady's Transit.
The work commenced in 1366, taking the mosque in Córdoba as the model. Following the expulsion of the Jews, in 1492, it became a Christian church dedicated to St. Benito and its management came under the responsibility of the Knights of Calatrava.
The building is laid out with a large rectangular hall illuminated by windows that are adorned with lobulated arches on the inside, which are integrated in a continuous series of arches supported on small polychromatic marble columns. Beside this hall there are small rooms that are used as a museum nowadays. The walls are decorated with beautiful Almohad plasterwork.
Inside, it houses very rich decoration in carved wood, plasterwork and vitrified ceramic, with profuse epigraphic decorations narrating historical events about the triumph of the Jews.
Nowadays, it is the headquarters of the Sephardic Museum. Its exhibits provide a full overview of the Jewish people and their relationship with Spain.
The roof
With a beautiful Mudéjar coffered ceiling (the best conserved in the whole city), with a collar-beam structure and eight points on the ends, with Moamar rafters supported by plinths and decorated with five-point stars.
Address:
Samuel H.Levi, 4
Tel. no. 925223665
Display on GoogleMaps
This mosque was erected thanks to Ahmed ibn Hadidi, a member of one of the most prestigious families in Toledo.
The building
The work of the architect Musa ibn´Ali according to the inscription in Kufic script on the main façade, this is one of the most noteworthy monuments in the city and the most important example of Islamic art in Toledo.
Called Bab al Mardum Mosque, it is the only remaining element from the caliphal city of Toledo. It is surrounded by a very charming garden.
Its current name is due to a legend-miracle that recounts the entrance of Alfonso VI to Toledo after the conquest. According to the legend, when the horse passed by the mosque, the animal got down on its knees. The surprised King ordered that the stucco of the frontispiece be torn down - and to his amazement, from behind the wall emerged a Christ illuminated by the light of an oil lamp that had been burning for three centuries.
It was here that the first mass after the city's conquest was read. Despite its apparent simplicity, it is an extraordinarily complex building with an almost square floor plan (7.74 x 8.60 m) and a centralised layout that is the background to all of the Mudéjar art in Toledo. As regards height, it is organised in three bodies, with the exception of the central section, in which there are four.
The exterior is decorated with polylobulated, segmented blind horseshoe arches to which a Romanesque-Mudéjar frontispiece was added in the 12th century.
Façades
The façades are very richly decorated, combining bricks and stonework. Most noteworthy is the one that looks onto Calle del Cristo de la Luz, with a first section with a lobulated horseshoe arch on top of which there is another interlinked horseshoe arch decorative structure. The third section is formed by a grid of rhombuses and an inscription in Kufic characters.
The interior
The interior space is compartmentalised in nine volumes covered with ribbed caliphal vaults, each of which is different and all of which are supported by four free-standing columns, with Visigothic capitals that were reused, above which there are twelve horseshoe arches.
It is covered by nine cross-vaults, inspired by the mosque in Córdoba, each of which is different and all of which are built on Visigothic columns and capitals. The walls are adorned with Romanesque paintings in a very poor state of repair.
Address:
Cristo de la Luz, 10
Beside Puerta de Valmardón, above Puerta del Sol.
Timetable: From 10 to 19 H
Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Tel. no.: 925254191
Over the course of its two thousand year history, the various cultures that have passed through Toledo have left their mark on the city, weaving a fabric still visible in its architecture and external surroundings.
Despite Almohad intolerance, during the three centuries of Muslim hegemony in Toledo, the flame of peaceful coexistence between its peoples was kept alight: Muslims, Christians and Jews. After it was conquered by Alphonsus VI, this tradition was conserved until the 15th century, building a bridge between classical culture and the medieval world through the Muslims and the Jews, who were the most enlightened at the time.
The links between Toledo and the Jews is now a cliché. In fact, the Jews of Toledo, who were already there at the time of the Visigoths, considered this land to be a second Jerusalem and the Sephardic Jews from Toledo continue to believe this to be the case.
Toledo is located approximately in the centre of the peninsula, about 70 kilometres from Madrid, to which it is linked via the N-401 expressway. The province is bordered on the north by Madrid and Ávila, on the south by Ciudad Real, on the east by Cuenca and on the west, by Cáceres.
The city stands on a hill, surrounded and protected by the river Tagus. It is currently the capital city of the Community of Castile-La Mancha and since the year 1940, its urban centre has been declared to be a historical-artistic ensemble, with over 100 monuments of interest. In 1987, it was declared by UNESCO to be a "World Cultural Heritage City".
Inhabited since prehistoric times, it was dominated by the Romans in the year 190 B.C., when Marco Fluvio conquered the former pre-Roman settlement and founded Toletum, incorporating its lands as part of Carpetania.
There are numerous references to the city in writings by Tito Livio and Pliny the Elder. In the year 589, following the III Council of Toledo and the conversion of Recaredo, it became the Visigoth capital.
The Muslims took over Toledo in the year 712. After several uprisings, in the year 932, Abd ar-Rahman III recovered the city, making it one of the main taifa kingdoms in the year 1031. In the year 1085, King Alphonsus VI occupied the city, reaching an agreement with the Muslims regarding their traditions and customs.
In the year 1166, Alphonsus VIII was proclaimed King in Toledo and in 1227, Ferdinand III the Saint and Archbishop Rodríguez de la Rada commenced the construction of the cathedral.
Toledo was to become the capital of Western culture with Alphonsus X the Wise and lived the maximum splendour of the Toledo School of Translators, which had been founded in the years 1130-1150.
In 1547, the Toledo of the Three Cultures that had so enriched the city was effectively ruined, when Phillip II transferred the court to Madrid in 1567. In 1808, the city was occupied by Napoleon's troops.
Nowadays, Toledo is a museum-city of great tourist interest that receives approximately two million visitors per year. After the Autonomous Communities were formed, it was elected a regional capital. Setting-up the University gave it a further boost.
Feast of St. Anthony
17 January
The feast-day of the patron saint of animals. Holy Week. The highlight is the Procession of Silence, on Good Friday.
Corpus Christi
This is the city's main festivity. In Toledo, Corpus Christi lasts for a week. The highlight is a procession in which the two hundred kilos of gold and silver of the mostrance belong to Cardinal Mendoza is solemnly paraded around the city. An imposing cortège walks the city's narrow streets, with sprigs of thyme on the ground and covered by canopies and lights.
Festivities of Our Lady of the Tabernacle
14 - 20 August
It is traditional to drink from the earthenware jugs that are places on the sides of the cathedral so that Our Lady can grant graces.
Festivities of Our Father Jesus the Nazarene
24 - 27 August
Tourist Information Office
Puerta de la Bisagra s/n
Tel. no. 925 220843
There is a small office on Plaza de Zocodover
Municipal Tourist Board
Plaza del Ayuntamiento
Tel. no. 925 254030
Full details about the city
www.ayto-toledo.org
www.toledoweb.org
www.zocodover.com
www.guiatoledo.com
www.toledoaldia.com
www.leyendasdetoledo.com
www.toledomagico.com
General Information about the city and most important guides
www.aplinet.com/toledoguia
Complete History of the Archdiocese of Toledo.
The information about the cathedral is particularly noteworthy.
www.architoledo.org
Heritage cities
www.ciudadespatrimonio.org/ciudades/toledo
About the municipalities in the province: routes, counties, festivities.
www.diputoledo.es
Tourist guide
www.red2000.com
The Sephardic Museum and its history
www.museosefardi.net
Leisure in Toledo
www.guiadelocio.com/toledo
Routes around Toledo
www.direl.com/museos
