Santa Maria’s Cathedral is located at the northwestern area of Ciudad Rodrigo urban fabric, inside the fortified enclosure where it stands out. The history of this important monumental town is directly connected to its cathedral since its main events are bound to it. In spite of its extraordinary heritage and despite being an outstanding example of the late Romanesque and Gothic architecture, it is not enough known.
It started to be built in the middle of the 12th century under the will of Fernando II from León. Four high-value portals provide access to the inside of this stunning building. Other elements from the 14th to the 16th centuries must be highlighted, such as several of its chapels, the large windows of the nave, the choir stalls and the Gothic cloister.
The strong nature of the Cathedral led it to play a defensive role also when Isabel the Catholic took the throne and years later during the Revolt of the Comuneros. The Cathedral covered the military needs of the town until the construction of the fortress in 1372. It had a distinguished “Defensive Tower” built next to the western gable and demolished after 1520. The current tower dating from the late 18th century displays traces of projectiles from the War of independence. It substituted the older one which disappeared during Lisbon’s earthquake and hides the Puerta del Perdón or de la Gloria Door, one of treasures of this Gothic church.
The Cathedral has a Latin cross floor plan and next to its nave we can find the Diocesan and Cathedral Museum that is home to an important collection of movable heritage.
Information and visits:
Tel. 923 481424
35 sensors have been installed in several points inside and outside the church. They will receive and transmit information about different parameters related to humidity, temperature and lighting conditions and the appearance of xylophages, among others.
The obtained information will determine the solutions for future intervention projects, particularly for the problems related to the humidity of the interior flooring.
The collected information along with the information obtained in investigations previously carried out in the church, will allow the adaptation of future interventions to the real needs of the building, thus enabling the planning and the foresight of damage.
The intervention plan follows the guidelines of the Master Plan of the Cathedral and opts for the preventive conservation of the church, energy efficiency and the management and dissemination of the values of the monument and of the Atlantic Romanesque Plan.
Once the area is monitored, the following step will be to develop a draft intended to enable an information area in the cathedral that may contribute for the dissemination of the history of the building and of the Atlantic Romanesque territory.
Insistiendo en la mejorar de la conservación preventiva, el Plan ha posilbilitado la instalación en la Capilla del Sagrario de varios bancos calefactados, con los que se trata de ofrecer mayor comodidad a los fieles y personas que a diario visitan la seo, propiciando, además, un consumo energético más eficiente y minimizando los problemas de humedad, detectados en el pavimento de la estancia.
