Catedral de Santander (Santa María)

The Cathedral of Santander, the Catedral de Santander (Santa María), dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption in Cantabria, stands near the harbour in the old part of the city, and it has a more complicated history than its calm Gothic appearance suggests. The building grew from an abbey church, the Abadía de los Cuerpos Santos, which was founded in the Middle Ages over the burial place of Saint Emeterius and Saint Celedonius, two Roman soldiers who, according to tradition, were martyred around the year 300 and whose bodies were carried to the town. The abbey church was built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in the Gothic style, and in 1754 it became a cathedral when the diocese of Santander was created.

The structure consists of two levels. Beneath the main church is a lower church, the Iglesia del Cristo, a Romanesque-style crypt that is one of the oldest parts of the building and gives the cathedral a double character, with the lower space dark and compact and the upper space high and bright. A Gothic cloister, with carved capitals, attaches to the side. The upper church has a wide nave, a stone vault, an elaborate main altar and several chapels with altarpieces and sculpture from different periods. Much of what visitors see today was rebuilt after a catastrophe in the twentieth century.

In February 1941, a fire fanned by strong winds swept through Santander and destroyed a large part of the historic centre. The cathedral was badly damaged, and it was restored in the years that followed, so some of its details are reconstructions. The fire changed the shape of the old town, and the streets around the cathedral were rebuilt in a different pattern. The Santander-born scholar Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo, one of Spain’s most celebrated men of letters, is buried in the cathedral, and his tomb is one of the points of interest. The cathedral is also the seat of the Bishop of Santander.

Visitors can walk freely through the nave and the cloister during opening hours, and it is a quiet place away from the traffic of the harbour area. The stained glass windows give a soft light, and the lower church is worth the short descent. Admission is free, though donations are welcome, and hours are set around services, with a break in the middle of the day, so check before going.

The cathedral is close to the Mercado de la Esperanza, the Paseo de Pereda and the Centro Botín, so it fits easily into a walk around the centre. The Palacio de la Magdalena and the beaches of El Sardinero are further away. A visit takes about half an hour.