The cathedral - murcia car hire

The major temple in the Cartagena Murcia Diocese is a magnificent superimposition of styles, a catalogue in stone that exemplifies more than 600 years of history and art in the Region. It would be particularly difficult to clearly decide on its inclusion in a certain period and that is precisely why it deserves its own space. Its construction was started by Bishop Fernando de la Padres in 1394, over the remains of the old mosque. For almost its first century os existence it suffered the economic ups and downs of the time, until they managed to close the vaults in 1462, and bishop Lope de Ribas consecrated in five years later.

In the XV century new improvements and extensions will take place. The chapel of Los Velez dates back to this period and is the most emblematic of the whole temple. It was built following orders of governor Chacón, of the Fajardo family, and finished in 1507 by his son, Pedro Fajardo, first marquis of Los Velez.

And for this the family purchased three of the chapels in the ambulatory, and several adjacent houses, which they demolished to allow for more space in the construction. Its plan is hexagonal and is covered by spectacular star shaped vault. Its complex and abundant decoration is a mixture of Gothic styles and traces of Islamic influences, which show an over elaborated combination of corbels, baldachins, arches, and numerous floral ornaments.

The entrance to the ante sacristy is a beautiful plateresque front erected by Jerónimo Quijano in 1526. It is a great triumphal arch with semidetached columns that withstand a plinth, covered in adornments and figures. This arch would later be used as model for manu other temples in the Region. Once insede the sacristy you may admire the extraordinary wooden drawers that cover the room, almost entirely carved by Jacobo Florentino and finished by Jeronimo Quijano himself.

These are compesed of a lower section, comprising drawers and doors, and an upper section, comprising drawers and doors, and an upper section, comprising panels and columns which encircle the central relief of the Llanto por el Cristo Muerto.

Another well known chapel is that of Junterón indeed one of the great works of the Renaissance in Spain, and ordered in 1515 by Gil Rodriguez de Junterón, pronotary of Pope Julius II, to be bouilt on land adjacent to the temple. That is the reason why the chapel protrudes from the perimeter of the cathedral, as you may easily check standing in the plaza de los Apostoles. A recent restoration has made visible the plaque that identifies its owner; De Junterón es.

The oval plan of the chapel is covered by a truly original vault later named boveda de Murcia by Andrés de Valdenvira . The magnificent decoration of the vault, composed of high reliefs with the Adoración de los Pastores as main subject, makes this vault a jewell of Spanish religious architecture.

The old main altarpiece was destroyed by the 1854 fire together with the ashlar work of the choir, and the organ. After many attempts to adpt the altarpiece from Los Jerónimos church the cathedral chapter decided to order a new altarpiece to master Palao who concluded it in 1868.

We have left two of the most characteristic features of the Murcian cathedral to the end: the façade and the tower. The baroque front is an exaltation of the Eastern art of the XVIII century. It was the work of architect Jaime Bort of Castellón and of his disciple Pedro Fernandez. It was erected between 1739 and 1754, as a replacement for the olf façade, which eas almost in ruins. Its construction was possible thanks to the support of the Crown and of cardinal Belluga, who has decided to magnify and extol the main temple of his former diocese. The façade was originally conceived with three sections, but it was reduced to only two in the final project, due to financial problems.

Both sections are divided resembling an altarpiece, by means of three segments articulated by Corinthian columns. The dominant element in the first isle is the great central gate of El Perdón, reserved for royal visitors. Above the gate is a group os sculptures with the Virgin surrounded by angels, in the second aisle there is a large window topped by the cross of Caravaca. The spaces between columns are filled with images of Leandro, Fulgencio, Isidoro and Florentina, all saints from Cartagena, and also with images of other seints and of Ferdinand III, who appears with the city of Murcia to his right, as a symbol of the new Castilian possession. On the other hand the tower we see today was started in 1521 after the demolition of the humble original. The first section, of square plan 19 metres each side, is a faithful reflection of its creators, Italian architects Francisco and Jacobo Florentino, who gave to their work a Tuscan and Renaissance appearance rather unusual at the time in Spain. The second section, by Jerónimo Quijano, is a repetition of the structure of the first one, with semidetached pilasters and geminate windows with an ionic mullion, but with fewer reliefs. Only after the conclusion of the front and right in the middle of the eighteenth century euphoria, does the cathedral chapter order the final sections of the tower to Juan de Gea, who erects the third section full of Corinthian pilasters and curved pediments. The fourth section was built with a lower height than planned, and including four shrines, called of warning since priests would avert storms from them with the Lignum Crucis.

The fifth section holds the 25 bells used since time inmmemorial to warn Murcians of floods wars suffering joy and festivities. Some of the bells are so much linked to the history of Murcia that they have been christened with names such as Nona, Concepción, Pilar or Fuensanta. The Mora the oldest of them all cast in 1383 enjoys a well deserved rest in the cathedral museum.