page_title: Ávila, Spain
section_title: Cathedral
hierarchical_section_title: Ávila, Spain / Architecture / Cathedral
context_page_description: Ávila is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila.
  It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located over 1,130 m above sea level, the city is the highest provincial capital in Spain.
  Distinctly known by its medieval walls, Ávila is sometimes called the Town of Stones and Saints, and it claims that it is one of the towns with the highest number of Romanesque and Gothic churches per capita in Spain. It has complete and prominent medieval town walls, built in the Romanesque style; writer José Martínez Ruiz, in his book El alma castellana, described it as "perhaps the most 16th-century town in Spain". The town is also known as Ávila de los Caballeros, Ávila del Rey and Ávila de los Leales, each of these epithets being present in the town standard.
  Orson Welles once named Ávila as the place in which he would most desire to live, calling it a "strange, tragic place". Various scenes of his 1965 film Chimes at Midnight were filmed in the town.
  Ávila was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. The site originally consisted of the walled city and four extra muros churches.
context_section_description: The construction of the iron-grey granite Gothic Cathedral of Ávila is said to have commenced in 1107 under Alvar Garcia de Estrella. Other historians believe the Cathedral to be the work of the master mason Fruchel in the 12th century, coinciding with the repopulation of the town led by Raymond of Burgundy. The eastern apse, which forms part of the town walls, is half church, half fortress, and it was here that the loyal citizens elevated Alonso VII as their king, hence Ávila del Rey. The transept was finished in 1350 by Bishop Sancho de Ávila. The earlier Romanesque parts are made of a striking red-and-white "blood" limestone, while the Gothic parts were built with pure white stone
  Northern façade: Gothic style at left and added renaissance at right. Porch of the Apostles.
  Western front: Burgundian style, with two towers forming a covered portal.
  Interior: Latin cross with three naves, a crossing and ambulatory.
  Capilla Mayor: Features a monumental altarpiece by Pedro Berruguete.
  Chapel of San Segundo, the first bishop: Attached to a column of the cruise. Renaissance style.
  Chapel of Santa Catalina: Made of alabaster.
  Choir and Rood screen: Renaissance style, decorated with reliefs depicting scenes of saints, carved from limestone. The alabaster tomb of Alonso Tostado de Madrigal, bishop in 1499, shown in the act of writing is in the ambulatory: "so enlightened were his doctrines that they caused the blind to see".
  Cloister: Access from the Romanesque cathedral by a door on the south aisle. Gothic style.
caption: View of the Cathedral of Ávila
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