Leon Cathedral

Monday 9th June 2014

This cathedral is also known as the Santa Maria de Leon Cathedral and the 'Pulchra Leonina' ( House of Lights). It was built on the site of a Roman baths dating back to 2 centuries BC. It later became a palace occupied by King Ordono II. When he defeated the Arabs in the War of Saint Esteban de Gormaz in 917 he decided to give away the palace to become a cathedral. The first cathedral had Mozarabic features until the second one was built during King Ferdinand of Leon reign when Romanesque style construction was added to the cathedral. One century later a third reconstruction of the cathedral was made in the Gothic style. This cathedral enjoys great illumination by virtue of having the most number of stained-glass windows in Spain. It ranked second to a French cathedral in terms of the number of stained-glass windows allowing light into the cathedral.