Cathédrale de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle

Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle

The meeting point of the four French routes joined together in this app's Great History, the present cathedral was begun in 1075 under the reign of Alfonso VI and consecrated in 1211. Its Portico of Glory, Master Mateo's masterpiece completed in 1188, is one of the most celebrated Romanesque sculptures in Europe. It is said to house the tomb of the apostle James the Greater, whose discovery tradition places in 814 by the hermit Pelagius — a relic authenticated by Pope Leo XIII in 1884, to be distinguished from an established archaeological fact. The botafumeiro, an immense 80 kg censer suspended from the transept crossing, is a very real and well-documented tradition, swung during the great pilgrim masses.

Getting there : Free admission to the cathedral, museum ticketed

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound