The León Cathedral, Spain: A Masterpiece of Gothic Architecture
This is a continuing series of photographs from our Galicia Road Trip (with a stop here in León and a few stops in Asturias) this past August.
My first post in this series was a prologue to our recent trip to Galicia, Spain – the land where my mother was born and a place that I’ve visited several times going back to when I was a young boy. It’s a very special place to me. But one that I hadn’t really ever explored on my own.
So, after several years of taking long vacations to chilly Europe in December (the slowest month of the year for my business), coupled with a strong and sudden urge to visit Galicia in the summer (the driest season of the year for that usually rainy region), drastically reduced airfares in August, and the realization that my business in August was also pretty anemic (yay!), I decided to plan a rare summer trip through Galicia and introduce my ladyfriend Serena to a part of Spain that she’d never been to (but I was sure she was gonna love!).
Now, having successfully executed numerous ambitious travel itineraries over the past several years, you would think planning a trip back to Spain (and Galicia) would be pretty seamless, yes? And after a few weeks of painstaking research, I finally had the whole route laid out with us landing in Madrid on August 2nd, spending the night there (not to mention checking out a wicked flamenco show), then hopping the new high-speed train to Santiago de Compostela arriving on the afternoon of the 3rd. All good.
So, about a week before our flight to Madrid, there was one last thing I needed to do – purchase the train tickets. It was then that I realized I had committed a rather egregious oversight. I mean, how was I supposed to know that all of central Spain apparently heads to Galicia in August? So many people, in fact, that there were no train tickets left on the 3rd, or the 4th or the 5th(!) All sold out.
No problemo. Just had to figure out another way to get to Santiago de Compostela from Madrid. Airline tickets for the 90 minute flight were steep considering the short notice and high demand. So we decided to rent a car and drive there. Easy. One thing, though – I’m not a fan of 6+ hour drives. So I decided to locate a city/town/village on our way to Galicia that neither of us had been to before to break up the long drive.
Behold! León! The capital of the province of León located in the autonomous community of Castile and León, a “mere” 3+ hour drive from Madrid and, of great interest to us, the home of the León Cathedral – a masterpiece of Gothic architecture.
León Cathedral
The León Cathedral stands out for its impressive medieval stained glass windows and its purity of Gothic style. Built on the site of an older Romanesque cathedral, it is the purest reflection of French Gothic architecture in Spain, although its authenticity has been compromised by 15th and 16th century additions and several 19th century restoration campaigns to improve its stability.
Initiated in the 13th century, The León Cathedral is mostly known for taking the “dematerialization” of gothic art to the extreme. Meaning? The reduction of the walls to their minimum expression to be replaced by stained glass, constituting one of the largest collections of medieval stained glass in the world; 1,800 square meters of stained glass windows to be exact.
The León Cathedral was inspired by the layout of the Reims Cathedral in France (although it was smaller in area size). The architect of the cathedral seems to have been a fellow named Master Enrique, probably a native of France, who had previously worked on the Burgos Cathedral. He died in 1277 and was replaced with the Spanish architect Juan Pérez.
The cathedral’s main door is reminiscent of the entrance to the French Gothic Reims Cathedral, with its triple pointed portico. Above the entrance is its famous rose window with thirteenth-century stained glass, flanked by two towers with different heights and designs, a feature that was typical of Gothic art.
The León Cathedral is also one of the three most important cathedrals, along with that of Burgos and Santiago de Compostela, on The Way of Saint James (El Camino de Santiago). Because of this, it was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1983 for its artistic and historical value as part of the cultural property “Route of Santiago de Compostela”.
Check out the FULL GALLERY:
The Casa Botines
We also popped into the Casa Botines, a modernista building in León designed by Antoni Gaudí, who began the project for the building in 1891 after being commissioned by the local cloth merchants. The result was an Art Nouveau building with a medieval appearance. All the business activity took place on the lower floors, while the upper floors were used for flats. The building was declared a Historic/Artistic Monument in 1969.
Some of the rooms host an exhibition about Gaudí and the history of the building, plus a collection of 19th and 20th-century paintings from the España-Duero Foundation, by artists including Ramón Casas, Raimundo de Madrazo, Joaquín Sorolla and Ignacio Pinazo.
Casa Botines is one of the most interesting buildings in Spain, with its corner towers that make it look like a fairy tale castle. The Gaudí of Casa Botines shows the man as an architect, an artist who knew how to seamlessly combine technical skills and art. An essential visit for lovers of Gaudi’s work and for any visitor to the city.
Tales from the Street
We only stayed one full day in León but it was a day well spent. León is a lovely city and we plan to return there one day and spend a few more days seeing the rest of what it has to offer. You can learn more about it by visiting their official tourism site.
As for where we stayed, we laid our heads down for the night at the lovely NH Collection León overlooking the historic and lively Plaza Mayor. Highly recommended should you find yourself in León (and you really should).
My next post kicks off with the whole reason why we were in Spain in the first place – our road trip through Galicia (with a few stops in Asturias). SUBSCRIBE HERE to not miss any of them…
