Qualla: Old Cathedral of Salamanca

Old Cathedral of Salamanca: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Antoine Taveneaux, CC BY-SA 3.0. When Salamanca decided it needed a bigger cathedral in the 16th century, the original plan was to tear the old one down. Cooler heads prevailed. The Old Cathedral, begun in the first third of the 12th century under Bishop Jerome of Perigord and completed at the end of the 14th, was kept open for worship while the New Cathedral rose alongside it over 220 years. By the time the newer building was finished, demolishing the older one seemed wasteful, even foolish. So both survived, joined at the hip: the south wall of the New Cathedral rests on the reinforced north wall of the Old. It is an accidental gift. The Old Cathedral of Santa Maria is now one of the finest Romanesque-Gothic buildings in Castile, and its main altarpiece is among the most extraordinary medieval paintings in Spain.

Image: Antoine Taveneaux | CC BY-SA 3.0

Old Cathedral of Salamanca: Where Romanesque Met Gothic

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Zarateman, CC0. Bishop Jerome of Perigord, a French cleric who had arrived in Iberia during the Reconquista, initiated construction after King Alfonso VI of Leon restored the Diocese of Salamanca and his son-in-law Raymond of Burgundy repopulated the city. The cathedral was built during a transi...

Image: Zarateman | CC0

Old Cathedral of Salamanca: Fifty-Three Panels by Three Brothers

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lourdes Cardenal, CC BY-SA 3.0. The main altarpiece, installed between 1430 and 1450, is a towering work of fifty-three painted panels depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin and of Christ. Three artists created it, and all three were brothers. The Italian painter Dello Delli executed the first twelve pane...

Image: Lourdes Cardenal | CC BY-SA 3.0

Old Cathedral of Salamanca: Chapels, Cloisters, and Examinations

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, CC BY 2.0. The Old Cathedral's cloister chapels served purposes that went well beyond worship. The Chapel of Santa Catalina, also known as the Capilla del Canto, was founded by Bishop Vidal in the 12th century and later enlarged in the 15th century to house the chapter library. It became th...

Image: Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | CC BY 2.0

Old Cathedral of Salamanca: Alabaster, Grillwork, and the Anaya Legacy

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Miguel Hermoso Cuesta, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Chapel of San Bartolome, also known as the Chapel of the Anaya family, contains one of the cathedral's most striking monuments. At its center rests the alabaster tomb of Diego de Anaya, bishop of Salamanca and archbishop of Seville, who founded the Colegio Mayor de San Bartol...

Image: Miguel Hermoso Cuesta | CC BY-SA 4.0