Things You Can´t Miss at the Cathedral of Toledo

The Cathedral of Toledo is an architectural complex dating from the thirteenth century. It is the main tourist attraction of this city of Castilla la Mancha and one of the most prized cathedrals in the national panorama.

If you are planning a trip to the province of Toledo and do not know what to see and do in Toledo, do not hesitate to include the Primate Cathedral in your travel itinerary. Read on to find out all that this incredible place has to offer.

The first thing to visit in Toledo Cathedral is the Chapter House. This is divided into two parts: the room itself and the anteroom. As for the anteroom, its construction dates from 1500 to 1512 and the architects who gave it life were Enrique Egas and Pedro Gumiel. It also has a beautiful façade designed by Copín de Holanda.

The interior of the antechamber mixes Gothic and Mudejar styles. It is rectangular in shape and on the sides you will find a multitude of cabinets in which the chapter minutes are filed. The cabinets on the left wall of the anteroom date from 1549 and 1551. On the other hand, those on the right wall were made in 1780.

As for the chapter house itself, you will be struck by the gilded decoration by Diego Lopez de Arenas and Francisco Lara. The oil paintings depicting different scenes from the Life of the Virgin and the Passion of Christ also stand out.

Just below these paintings, you will see a set of 32 portraits of the first archbishops of Toledo, which were painted by Juan de Borgoña. In the center of the back wall of the Chapter House is the Archbishop's Chair, the work of Copín de Holanda. In case you do not want to miss the smallest detail, I recommend a guided tour of the Cathedral.

The Cathedral of Toledo has an Arab past, being located in the same place where the mosque of the city was located. During those times, the liturgy of the Hispanic Mozarabic rite was celebrated. In an attempt to prevent this from being buried, Cardinal Cisneros founded the Mozarabic chapel or Corpus Christi chapel in 1504.

Initially, the purpose of this site was to hear the Mass of the Mozarabic rite, something that is still done today. The architect to whom we owe the pleasure of being able to visit this place is Enrique Egas. However, in 1622 the chapel burned down, so it had to be rebuilt by Jorge Manuel, son of the famous Renaissance painter El Greco. Thus, the chapel was completed in 1631.

Upon entering the interior, you can see a dome of the seventeenth century, which presided over what was once the old chapter house, of which today only a starry sky is preserved. Here you can see a beautiful mosaic of the Virgin and Child as well as an engraving by Carlo Maratta that was rescued from the bottom of the sea after a shipwreck.

If you want to see this and the other parts of this Christian monument, I recommend that you take a look at the opening hours of the Cathedral of Toledo.

In the central nave of the Cathedral of Toledo there is a huge and colorful choir. Just behind it is the trascoro, which was built during the pontificate of Archbishop Pedro Tenorio and dates from the end of the 14th century. It highlights several columns, which are supposed to be part of the ancient mosque of the city.

With respect to the sculptures that are located in the back room, all of them make reference to the Holy Scriptures, so that the illiterate could understand its meaning. The first one starting from the left refers to the Creation, accompanied by the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. There are also sculptures that refer to scenes of the Universal Flood, as well as figures in honor of Innocence and Guilt.

In the same place where there used to be a door in the center of the trascoro, today you will see a chapel in honor of the Virgin of the Star, which has a Gothic style statue carved in stone. If you look to the right, you will find the chapel of Santa Catalina, also dedicated to St. Agnes and St. Agatha, which dates from 1516.

On the left, on the other hand, you will find the altar of the Tended Christ. The work shows Christ dead in the arms of the Virgin, along with the Three Marys, St. John, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. If you want to know this and the other relics of the Cathedral, I recommend a guided tour of the Cathedral of Toledo and its 5 treasures.

Of the 24 chapels found in the Cathedral of Toledo, the first of them is the Chapel of the Descent. Although it is not certain, it is believed that this is the place where the main altar of the church of Santa Maria was located.

This chapel is very important because of the legend that says that in the year 666, the Virgin descended from heaven to reward Archbishop Ildefonso for his defense against the heretical doctrines of Ervigio.

In the place you will find a gate that secures the tomb of Cardinal Moscoso, who died in 1655. You can also see an altarpiece by the sculptors Covarrubias, Borgoña and Almonacid. Next to it, you will see a stone guarded by a grille. According to legend, this is the stone on which the Virgin rested her feet at the moment of the Descent.

The visit to the Chapel of the Descent is included in the price of the tickets to the Cathedral of Toledo.

Under the former chapel of San Juan, you will find the Treasure Room. You can enter it through a façade by Covarrubias, which dates from 1537.

Two clay statues adorn this door. Both, from 1523, were created by Olarte and represent Christ with the cross and St. Peter kneeling next to him. The room is presided over by a plaster ceiling that originally formed part of the chapel of the New Kings.

The treasure room contains in its interior the most important gold and silver works of the cathedral. Just above the showcases in which they are located, you can see the paintings for the tapestry cartons. However, the great protagonism is taken by the Processional Monstrance, which is said to have been made with the first gold that arrived from the New World.

This was a legacy from Queen Isabella the Catholic to Cardinal Cisneros. The monstrance is 2.5 meters high and consists of three bodies. It is composed of 5600 pieces and 250 statuettes made of enamel and gilded silver. A diamond cross dating from 1600 presides over it. Beyond the monstrance and the other works of art found in this room, one of the main ones is the Bible of St. Louis, which was a gift that the French royal workshop made to Alfonso X.

If you leave the naves through the Puerta de la Presentación, you will find the cloister, which has wooden doors dating back to 1601. The first stone was laid in this room on August 14, 1389, and the work was completed in 1399. The cloister of the Cathedral of Toledo is made up of four galleries, of more than 50 meters each.

The door through which the cloister is accessed is called the door of the Mollete or the Lost Child. Its walls were once adorned with paintings by Pedro Berruguete, but today, you can contemplate frescoes by Mariano Salvador Maella and Francisco Bayeu, which were painted under the Archbishopric of Lorenzana.

Among all of them, one of the most striking is the Santo Niño de la Guardia. The painting refers to a very old legend of Toledo tradition, according to which the Hebrews decide to give a lesson to the Christians by kidnapping a child in the town of La Guardia.

If you continue walking, you can also see a pedestal and a stone commemorating the consecration of the temple. The cathedral also has a high cloister, which was to be the residence of the Cabildo. However, it ended up being the residence of the cathedral workers and even hosted Isabel I and Felipe II.

Next to the cloister is the chapel of San Blas, which was built to be the burial place of Archbishop Tenorio. His work was completed on May 10, 1399, just 10 days before the death of the archbishop. You can access the chapel of San Blas through a Gothic door decorated with images of the Assumption.

Inside, you can contemplate a multitude of fresco paintings depicting different passages from the life of Christ. However, due to the place where this chapel is located, the humidity has affected its conservation. Right in the center of the chapel is the white marble tomb of Archbishop Tenorio, which rests next to the tomb of the Bishop of Palencia.

I continue with this visit to the Cathedral of Toledo with the parish chapel of San Pedro. In order to access it, you will have to return from the chapel of San Blas to the naves of the cathedral through the Puerta de Santa Catalina. This chapel serves as a parish church and was founded in 1422 by Archbishop Don Sancho de Rojas. Inside you can see three altars adorned with paintings by Bayeu, dating from the 18th century, as well as the tomb of the archbishop.

Right in front of the chapel, at the time, there was a stone in the shape of a cradle where children who had been conceived out of wedlock or who had been born in families that could not take care of them were abandoned.

Its name is that of the stone for Foundlings and all those who were deposited in it were in the care of the cathedral. There came a time when this matter was unsustainable for the temple, so Cardinal Mendoza founded the Hospital de Santa Cruz, in order to accommodate these children.

As you will have seen throughout this article, there are many chapels in the Cathedral of Toledo that have been built as tombs for important members of the Archbishopric. Obviously, not everyone could have access to such wealthy tombs, since they involved the costs of the construction of the chapel and the dowry for the chaplains who were in charge of the masses.

After some time, the cathedral was affected by the high number of sepulchres, as well as by the liturgical acts they entailed. Thus, masses were forbidden to be celebrated on Sundays and holidays. For all those who did not have the economic resources that a chapel implied, it was ordered that the sepulchres had to be at the same level of the pavement.

Walking through the cathedral, you will be able to see the different tombs on the ground where you step, as well as the inscriptions detailing the dates of birth and death and the names of the people there.

The Puerta del Reloj, also known as the Puerta de las Ollas or the Puerta de la Chapinería, is a 15th century work by the master Paulo. On its exterior you can see four large canvases that refer to St. Thomas Aquinas and different moments of the founding of the cathedral.

Above the door is a clock from the late eighteenth century, which is what gives this name to the door. Although you cannot see it, its mechanism contains an angel with a scythe that alludes to death.

Above, next to the door, you will find a horn on which hangs a chain. Although it is not known, certain legends say that it belongs to one of the oxen on which the first stones of the cathedral were transported.

This part of the cathedral can be somewhat overwhelming to the eye, as it is loaded with riches. In the place where it stands today, was the chapel of the Old Kings. One of the most important treasures of the Main Chapel of the Cathedral of Toledo is the Renaissance grille of 1548 made by Francisco de Villalpando.

At its ends are two statues, one of the Virgin and the other of St. Gabriel. Right in the center of the grille, you can see a coat of arms with the imperial arms of Charles I. The grille is crowned with a figure of Christ.

The chapel, which was formerly the burial chapel built by King Sancho IV, dates from the 16th century. Thus, before its construction, Cardinal Cisneros asked the Catholic Monarchs to transfer the monarchs to another of the cathedral's chapels.

One of the most important parts of the main chapel is the polychrome wooden altarpiece that was made by Petit Jean, under the guidelines of Enrique Egas and Pedro de Gumiel. Its construction lasted from 1498 to 1504. This altarpiece has three bodies. Right in its center is the tabernacle, which is the place where the consecrated bread is kept for the moment of the Eucharist.

Just at the opposite end of the Main Chapel, there is a large grille that protects the choir area. This one was made in 1548 and its work belongs to Domingo Céspedes. The grille has two access doors and is made of iron, gold and silver.

The choir is one of the most special places of this temple and it is used only for the prayer of the canonical hours. It is located in the heart of the cathedral and has an upper and a lower choir. As for the lower one, it was made in 1495 by Rodrigo Alemán and has 54 seats in which various scenes of the conquest of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs are represented.

Regarding the upper part, both Alonso de Berruguete and Felipe de Borgoña participated in it. This makes it possible to differentiate two styles in the upper part. The work is made of walnut wood and you can see representations of different characters of the Church. On the other hand, above the Archbishop's chair, you will see a sculpture that refers to the Transfiguration of the Lord. Finally, in the center you will also see a sculpture of the White Virgin.