Valladolid Cathedral

Description

In the 11th century, Count Ansúrez and Doña Eylo founded a collegiate church of which hardly any remains are left. Later, in the 13th century, a second collegiate church was built on the same site. However, by the 16th century, the building had become too small, so the chapter promoted the construction of a new cathedral (Urrea, 2021). Among the architects who worked on designing and consolidating the cathedral, Gil de Hontañón, Juan de Herrera, and Diego de Praves stand out. Later, in the 18th century, Churriguera was involved (Chueca Goitia, 1947). In the 20th century, some of the most important pieces housed in the cathedral were sold (Merino, 1987; Brasas, 1993; Martínez Ruiz, 2008), such as the grille currently located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, United States), a Saint Jerome by El Greco preserved at The Frick Collection (New York, United States), and the portrait of a gentleman from the House of Leiva, also by El Greco, at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Canada).

Bibliography

• BRASAS EGIDO, Juan Carlos (1993): "Crónica de una pérdida irreparable del patrimonio artístico vallisoletano. La venta de dos cuadros del Greco que pertenecieron a la Catedral y la intervención de la Real Academia de la Purísima Concepción", nº 28, en Boletín de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de la Purísima Concepción.
• CHUECA GOITIA, Fernando (1947): La catedral de Valladolid: una página del Siglo de Oro de la arquitectura española, Instituto Diego Velázquez, Madrid.
• MARTÍNEZ RUIZ, María José (2008): La enajenación del patrimonio en Castilla y León (1900-1936), vol. 1, Junta de Castilla y León, Salamanca.
• MERINO DE CÁCERES, José Miguel (1987): "La reja de la catedral de Valladolid en Norteamérica", nº 53, en BSAA.
• URREA, Jesús (2021): La catedral de Valladolid. Su historia y patrimonio, Ayuntamiento de Valladolid, Valladolid.