Cádiz Cathedral is probably the most weird cathedral in the world. The grandiose structure capped by a dome of golden tiles was described by Richard Ford as "a stranded wreck on a quicksand." It took 116 years to build the Cathedral (1722 - 1838) and as a consequence of this it combines a peculiar - and seemingly impossible - mix of styles from Baroque, rococo to neoclassical with a Moorish touch.
Certainly, the genesis of Cádiz's Catedral can be traced to the city's immense prosperity in the late 17th and 18th centuries, fueled by thriving trade with the Indies and the relocation of the Casa de Contratación from Seville to Cádiz in 1717. The city's unprecedented financial growth prompted the city council to envision a cathedral that mirrored this affluence.
With swift action, the first stones were laid in 1722 under the guidance of architect Vicente Acero, who had recently worked on the Cathedral of Granada, lending certain similarities to the two structures. Despite Acero's resignation, subsequent architects such as Gaspar Cayón, Torcuato Cayón, Miguel Olivares, and Manuel Machuca each contributed to the cathedral's evolution. Finally, under Juan Daura's direction in 1832, the cathedral reached completion after more than a century of construction, with each architect leaving their distinctive mark on the structure.
The architects’ ambition was to build taller towers than those of Seville's Giralda, but economic challenges forced compromises along the way.
Cádiz Cathedral holds many hidden gems. Climb the Clock Tower or Levante Tower and you will be rewarded by an impressive, panoramic view of the city-centre neighbourhood of El Pópulo, the Atlantic Ocean, the Campo del Sur, the seafront promenade and the city’s harbour. Look under your feet in the square in front of the Cathedral and you will see an accurate reflection of the plan of the Cathedral made to scale with pieces of white marble.
Go down to the crypt and find the tombs of two world-famous natives of Cádiz: the composer Manuel de Falla and the writer José María Pemán. Also, in the Cathedral’s crypt lies the body of a young girl known as “the communion girl” who, according to the legend, died in this place of worship on the very day of her first communion. Another interesting legend about the Cádiz Cathedral suggests that it holds a fragment of the True Cross on which the Romans crucified Jesus Christ. Not only that: it also contains one of the thorns from Christ’s crown. Both the fragment of wood and the thorn lie in their respective seventeenth-century reliquaries.
