Crypt of the Cathedral of Our Lady of La Almudena
The Crypt of the Cathedral of Our Lady of La Almudena is an underground Neo-Romanesque space with five long naves and approximately four hundred columns, each topped with different biblical scenes and nature carvings. Small chapels line the sides, lit by colored windows, while the layout follows a Latin cross shape mirroring the cathedral above but with a lower ceiling.
The crypt opened in 1911 as the first completed section of the cathedral complex, though the overall building took many more years to finish. Built in white Portuguese limestone, it now holds approximately one thousand tombs of important Madrid families across centuries.
The crypt is dedicated to the Virgin of Almudena, Madrid's patron saint, and remains an active place of prayer and remembrance for both locals and visitors. It serves as a gathering space where faith and family memory connect people to the spiritual roots of the city.
The crypt is free to enter and rarely crowded, allowing for a quiet visit without the busy atmosphere of the main cathedral above. Audioguides and guided tours are available to help you learn about the artworks and tombs throughout the space.
One of the oldest known images of the Virgin Mary in Madrid is a 13th-century fresco of the Virgin of the Fleur de Lis, rescued from a nearby older church. Among the four hundred columns, one stands out with Madrid's coat of arms carved into its capital—a bear and a strawberry tree.
Location: Madrid
GPS coordinates: 40.41524,-3.71458
Latest update: December 6, 2025 15:54
Beneath the streets of Europe's cities lies an underground world of burial chambers and crypts that tell the story of how people honored their dead across centuries. These underground spaces, ranging from simple rock-carved tombs to elaborate vaulted rooms, house the remains of millions, along with religious monuments, painted walls, and carved stone that blend Roman, Egyptian, and Christian traditions. Walk through these passages and you encounter the actual practices of death and faith that shaped European life from the 1st century through the 1800s. The frescoes on the walls, the mosaics underfoot, and the carefully arranged bones reveal not just how different cultures buried their dead, but also what they believed about the afterlife and how they saw themselves in the world. Each crypt and catacomb is like a time capsule, a place where the concerns of ancient Romans, medieval Christians, and colonial communities became permanent in stone and bone. From the systematic arrangements in Paris, where millions were moved to former quarries when cemeteries overflowed, to Vienna's imperial burial chambers that housed rulers for centuries, these underground networks show how cities solved practical problems while expressing deep spiritual meaning. Whether decorated with geometric patterns made from thousands of bones, painted with biblical scenes, or simply lined with neat rows of sarcophagi, each site reveals something different about how its people lived and what they thought mattered when life ended.
Almudena Cathedral
37 m
Catedral de la Almudena
53 m
Muslim Walls of Madrid
38 m
Royal Collections Gallery
89 m
Palace of the Cuesta de la Vega
13 m
Parque del Emir Mohamed I, Madrid
63 m
Juan Pablo II
54 m
Tower of Narigües
45 m
Mariano José de Larra
120 m
Luigi Boccherini
102 m
Viviendas junto al Viaducto de Segovia
89 m
Commemorative plaque to Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Eboli
130 m
Virgen de la Almudena (Réplica)
33 m
Fuente en estrella, parque Emir Mohamed I
68 m
Petrus
125 m
Paulus
99 m
Museo de Colecciones Reales building
103 m
Fuentes gemelas de la glorieta Boccherini
117 m
Fuente mural en la Cuesta de la Vega
87 m
Fuente del parque Emir Mohamed I
69 m
Muralla Árabe
36 m
Puerta de La Vega
41 m
Jesús desamparado
59 m
Luigi Boccherini
98 m
Memorial, commemorative plaque
84 m
Maria Santisima de La Almudena
50 m
Memorial
65 m
Ana Princesa Eboli
109 mReviews
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