Burgos Cathedral

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**Burgos Cathedral**¹
**UNESCO World Heritage Site**

State Party	Spain
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iv, vi
Identification	#316
Region²	Europe and North America
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1984 8th WH Committee Session
WH link:	http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/316
1 Name as officially inscribed on the WH List 2 As classified officially by UNESCO

The Burgos Cathedral (Spanish: Catedral de Burgos) is a Gothic-style cathedral in Burgos, Spain. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is famous for its vast size and unique architecture.

[edit] History

The construction of the cathedral was ordered by King Ferdinand III of Castile and Mauricio, the English-born Bishop of Burgos. Construction started on the site of the former Romanesque cathedral on July 20, 1221, beginning at the chevet, which was completed in nine years. The high altar was first consecrated in 1260, then there was a lengthy hiatus of almost 200 years before construction was recommenced. The cathedral was completed in 1567, with the completion of the lantern spire over the main crossing (which rises above a delicate openwork star vault).

The architects principally responsible for its construction were a Frenchman in the 13th century and a German in the 15th century. In 1417, the bishop of Burgos attended the Council of Constance and returned with the master builder John of Cologne (Juan de Colonia), who completed the towers with spires of open stonework tracery.

Among the most famous of the bishops of Burgos was the 15th-century scholar and historian Alphonsus a Sancta Maria.

In 1919 the cathedral became the burial place of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ("El Cid"), and his wife Doña Jimena. On October 31, 1984, it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, becoming the only cathedral in Spain to be so designated.

[edit] Architecture

The 15th-century west front of northern French gothic style is flanked by towers on square plans terminating in octagonal spires covered with open stonework traceries. The façade, in three stories, has triple entrances in ogival arched framing, with a gallery enclosed by a pinnacled balustrade and a delicately-pierced rose window. In the uppermost story, there are two ogival double-arched windows and statues on pedestals, crowned with a balustrade of letters carved in stone: PULCHRA ES ET DECORA ("Beautiful art Thou, and graceful"), in the center of which is a statue of the Virgin Mary. There are more balustrades and balconies in the towers, with further open-carved inscriptions: needle-pointed octagonal pinnacles finish the four corners.

Its cruciform floorplan, with a nave and wide aisles is almost hidden, in exterior views,by the fifteen chapels added at all angles to the aisles and transepts, by the beautiful 14th-century cloister on the northwest and the archiepiscopal palace on the southwest. Over the three central doorways of the main or western façade rise the two lofty and graceful towers, crowned by their spires. Many of the altars, chapels and monuments within the cathedral are of artistic and historical interest.

The north transept portal, known as the Portada de la Coronería, has statues of the Twelve Apostles. Above, ogival windows and two spires crown the portal. On the south portal, the portada depicts the evangelists at their writing desks.

The magnificent octagonal Chapel of the Condestable is of flamboyant Gothic style, filled with traceries, knights and angels and heraldry.