Holy Cathedral Church of Zamora | © Wikimedia Commons | Paul M.R. Maeyaert

Holy Cathedral Church of Zamora – Zamora

INTRODUCTION

The Holy Cathedral Church is the most important religious, historical and artistic building in the diocese of Zamora. It receives the name of “cathedral” for being the Bishop’s church and is such a unique church full of innumerable historical references. For more than eight hundred years, many people and events were linked to it for being the main stage of the future of the city and the diocese of Zamora.

HISTORY

The Cathedral of Zamora is located on the former areal of the “Sant Salvador” which was a small basilica which was dedicated to the memora of the Saviour of Zamora.
It consists of a document of the Cabildo that works were hired in the year 1150 and were carried out, according to historians, between 1151 and 1174. Thus, then, the bulk of the work was done in twenty-three years, as it says in the epitaph of the bishop Guillermo, third after the restoration, where it is said that the cathedral was consecrated in September 1174. It is not ruled out that Bishop Bernardo did some preparatory work and after 1174 followed consolidation or ornamentation works.
The primitive style of the cathedral was Romanesque with three naves and three apses, with the modalities of the reform of the Cistercian, with the suppression of the ornamentation of capitals for reasons of simplicity and other motives of piety. The orientalism of the cathedral of Zamora is evident in its Byzantine dome.
From the fourteenth century, the primitive factory began to suffer innovations with the addition of funeral chapels and the new Gothic style.
In the sixteenth century, the three Romanesque apses were suppressed and the main chapel and the choir were built in the middle of the central nave. For these expenses, Bishop Menéndez Valdés contributed a part, whose shield is sculpted in several places of the cathedral.
At the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, the current neoclassical cloister was added, which replaced the primitive one, ravaged by a fire that occurred in the year 1591. Likewise, the portico of the northern Herrera style was added.
The shield of the primitive Cabildo was a Lamb standing carrying the flag; since the 18th century the Lamb is laid on the Book with the seven seals.

ARCHITECTURE AND FURNITURE

Originally it was a building with three naves of four sections each, a slightly marked cruise on the ground floor and three semicircular apses. The dome, built in the last quarter of the twelfth century, is the most emblematic element of the cathedral.
In its structure, composition and decoration Zamora Cathedral gathers influences from the preceding Eastern and Western architecture (French, Byzantine, Crusader and Muslim). During the thirteenth century, after the conclusion of the cathedral temple, a tower was built in the northwest corner. It is an authentic defensive bastion, 37 meters high, which stands out for its colossal and massive appearance.
The southern or Bishop’s cover is the only one of the old factory that is conserved in its entirety and can be seen in its entirety. In it, various elements of Classical, French, Oriental and Hispano-Muslim origin had been harmoniously integrated.
The side streets contain magnificent sculptural reliefs.
The choir stalls, located in the central nave, were made in walnut. The current cloister replaces another medieval one that was destroyed by a fire in 1591. It was designed in admirable proportions and balance.

OPENING HOURS

November – March:
Monday to Sunday 10am – 2pm and 4.30pm – 7pm
Closing doors: 18.30pm

April – October:
Monday to Sunday 10am – 8pm
Closing doors: 7.30 pm

CONTACT

Cathedral Square, s / n.
49001 ZAMORA
Post Office Box: 285
Phone: +34 980 530 644
Mail: Catedral@diocesisdezamora.es

ENTRANCE FEES & GUIDED TOURS

General entry: 5,00€ (adults in general)

Reduced entry: 3,00€ (Students, Pensioners, Disabled, Unemployed, large families with accreditation, Groups of more than 20 people)

Free entry: children under 12 years, on Sunday afternoons (except Easter and in coincidence with bridges and holidays Mondays), International Museum Day, Partners of “Friends of the Cathedral”.

TOURIST INFORMATION OFFICE

Plaza Arias Gonzalo 6
49001 Zamora
Phone: +0034 980 533 694
Mail: oficinaturismo@zamora.es
Website: www.zamora-turismo.com