Toledo Cathedral

The cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in Toledo is the senior church of Spain, its archbishop holding the title Primate of the Spains granted by Pope Urban II in 1088. A Visigothic cathedral stood here by 587, when King Reccared abjured Arianism. After the Muslim conquest it was replaced by the great mosque, which Alfonso VI converted to Christian use on reconquering Toledo in 1085.

The Gothic building was begun in 1226 under Ferdinand III on the mosque's footprint. The nave's vaults were closed in 1493 under the Catholic Monarchs.

Known as Dives Toletana, the Rich Toledan, it houses the Mozarabic Chapel preserving the Hispano-Mozarabic rite and the gilded monstrance made by Enrique de Arfe between 1517 and 1524 for Cardinal Cisneros, carried in the Corpus Christi procession. Several kings of Castile lie buried in its chapels.