Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Catholic cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain
The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of St. James the Apostle is a Catholic church in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, built from grey stone with Romanesque and Baroque elements. Its floor plan follows a Latin cross with three aisles spanning 100 meters in length and 70 meters in width.
Construction began in 1075 under King Alfonso VI, when Bishop Diego Peláez directed the project over the remains of earlier churches. Later building phases brought the Baroque façade in the 18th century and further redesigns that surrounded the Romanesque interior.
The name Santiago connects to Saint James the Apostle, whose believed tomb has drawn pilgrims from across Europe for centuries. Most visitors today touch the central column of the portal and attend daily services that fill the space with prayer and song.
The Obradoiro facade is reached by the Maximilian Staircase, a 17th-century diamond-shaped double ramp by Ginés Martínez that wraps around the entrance to Master Mateo's 12th-century Romanesque crypt. The cathedral opens daily for worship, pilgrim visits and confessions, with wheelchair-accessible entrances.
The cathedral's botafumeiro is not mentioned in the two source articles, which instead record that the gates and bells of the church burned by Al-Mansur in 997 were carried to Córdoba and later moved to Toledo in 1236. The Obradoiro façade, finished by Fernando de Casas Novoa in 1740, shows St James as a pilgrim between the towers of the Bells and the Ratchet.
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