Seville cathedral, AKA, Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See is the largest cathedral in the world.
This is because the world’s two largest churches, the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida and St. Peter’s Basilica, are not the seats of bishops.
In 1401, city leaders decided to build a new cathedral to replace the grand mosque that had served as the cathedral until that point. It took until 1506 to complete.
According to local legend, the members of the cathedral chapter said: “Let us build a church so beautiful and so grand that those who see it finished will think we are mad”
Sadly, just a few years after completion, in 1511, the crossing lantern, or cimborrio, collapsed and work on the cathedral had to start again.
It collapsed again in 1888 and work on the dome continued until at least 1903.
The builders kept some elements from the original ancient mosque that stood on the site.
The mosque’s sahn, that is, the courtyard where the faithful would conduct ritual cleansing before entering the prayer hall. Today it is known as the Patio de los Naranjos.
However, the most well known is its minaret, which was converted into a bell tower known as La Giralda, and is now the city’s most well-known symbol.
So that’s our incredibly fast whizz around the cathedral. It’s a beautiful building that warrants a longer tour than we gave it, but as mentioned before, you have to get up very early to miss the immense queues or wait until nearly closing for a fast visit.