Cathedral of Sevilla

Construction on the Cathedral of Sevilla began in 1402 and was completed in 1506. It is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third largest church in the world. We have all been admiring it from the outside since arriving in Sevilla. This afternoon we got a chance to see the inside. (Note: You can see a larger version of all of the images below by clicking on the picture. There is also a link to a web album of photos at the bottom of this blog entry.)

According to the minutes of the early planners for the cathedral, their objective was to build "a church so beautiful and so great that those who see it built will think we were mad." The interior of the cathedral was absolutely fantastic with huge vaulted and decorated ceilings, massive columns, ornate displays, and an extensive collection of paintings and sculputures.

The Cathedral of Sevilla also contains the tomb of Christopher Columbus. The authenticity of the tomb was in doubt for some time but DNA tests have validated the identity of the remains. The problem is that the "remains" are not complete and there is a possibility that at least part of Chris also resides in Cuba and the Dominican Republic

Like the Cathedral of Cordoba, this cathedral was built on the site of a previous Muslim mosque. But in this case, only the tower and entry garden were preserved. At the end of our visit, we were able to climb the tower. It was very interesting to see the cathedral structure from above and to get a bird's eye view of the city.

There are many more pictures of the Cathedral to see in the web album at the link below.

Photos of the Cathedral of Sevilla