Cuenca Cathedral

Cuenca Cathedral Catedral de Santa María y San Julián de Cuenca
Facade of the cathedral
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic Church
Location
Location	Cuenca, Spain
Architecture
Type	Church
Style	Norman, Gothic, Romanesque, neo-Gothic

Cuenca Cathedral is a Gothic cathedral in the city of Cuenca, located in the Province of Cuenca in the Castile-La Mancha region of south-eastern central Spain. The building is one of the earliest Spanish examples of Gothic architecture, built at a time when the Romanesque style predominated in the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, the cathedral is characteristic of the Norman and Anglo-Norman architecture of the 12th century, of which Soissons Cathedral, Laon Cathedral and Notre-Dame de Paris are representative examples.

Work began in 1196 and was largely completed by 1257, although further renovations continued. In the 15th century, the Gothic chevet of the cathedral was reconstructed. The exterior was almost renovated in the 16th century. In the 17th century, the tabernacle chapel (capilla del Sagrario) was built, and the facade and the towers were reformed. The facade was partially reconstructed in the neo-Gothic style at the beginning of the 20th century to repair damage caused when the bell tower (the Giraldo) collapsed in 1902. However, there are plans and projects to complete the work once a technical consensus is reached.

The cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cuenca. It is dedicated to Mary and to Saint Julian of Cuenca, the second bishop of the Diocese and patron saint of the city.^[1]