The Cathedral of Toledo is one of the three Gothic cathedrals of the classical period in Spain, along with those of Burgos and León.
The first stone was laid in 1226 by Cardinal Jiménez de Rada, however, its existence dates back to the 6th century, when the Visigothic temple was built, converted into an Aljama Mosque after the Arab invasion of the 8th century, and in the one that once the city was conquered by King Alfonso VI, the Christian cult was restored in 1086.
On October 15, 1088, Pope Urban II granted, through a papal bull, the title of being the PRIMATE cathedral of Spain, primacy over the rest of the cathedrals. The privilege is maintained today by tradition.
We will highlight four particular and little-known elements of this cathedral:
The first is that it is the only one of the three classical Gothic cathedrals in Spain that has an Islamic influence, so in the clerestory of the main chapel you can see pointed, crisscross and polylobed horseshoe arches, modeled on the macsura of the Cordoba mosque .
The second is that it only has one tower of the two that were originally projected. The plan was to execute three large portals and two twin towers on the western façade (Town Hall Square). The first tower was built in the mid-15th century, but the second The second was never built, it was closed with a dome, the work of Juan Manuel Teothocopulos (son of El Greco), in the s. XVII, on the base of the tower that was raised.
The third and most important of all, is that this dome is the covering of the so-called Mozarabic Chapel. The works were commissioned by Cardinal Cisneros to Enrique Egas, began in 1501 and ended in 1511. This chapel was built with a very specific objective: the recovery of the Hispanic rite. To achieve this purpose, Cisneros ordered the compilation of all the Mozarabic trades, the endowment of a chapel with specific chaplains who knew and loved this rite and, finally, the creation of a place in the cathedral where holy mass could be officiated daily. by the Hispanic rite, now called Mozarabic.
The Hispanic rite is the liturgy used in Spain since early Christian times, enriched at the time of the Visigothic kingdom, and which, after the Muslim invasion, Christians who lived in Islamic territory continued to use. Pope Gregory VII unified all the existing rites, imposing the Roman rite in all of Christendom, with the exception, as we have already said, of the Spanish territories occupied by the Arabs.
After the conquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI in the 11th century, an attempt was made to abolish this rite, but it met strong opposition from the so-called Mozarabs, reaching a compromise solution: in six parishes of the city the Hispanic rite would continue to be officiated and in the rest the Roman rite. The Hispanic rite only remained in Toledo, but over the centuries it fell into oblivion. To prevent its disappearance, Cardinal Cisneros began the important task of its recovery, and it is currently one of the greatest treasures that the city of Toledo hides. : the survival of an ancient and unique rite in the Christian world. Every morning a mass is celebrated for the Mozarabic rite in this chapel.
And the fourth element, and very little known, is that Alfonso VII is buried in this Cathedral. The emperor, he was the first and only Spanish king to be crowned emperor on Hispanic soil. Upon his death, in 1157, his body was transferred to Toledo. and was buried in the Cathedral, he is the first Leonese sovereign to be buried there. Since then Toledo was known as the imperial city.
