Santa Maria cathedral

Santa Maria cathedral is the fourth and last cathedral built in La Seu d’Urgell. Construction on it got underway in the time of the bishop Saint Odo in the early twelfth century.

Distribution

 It has three naves, a transept and a chevet with five apses, although only the central one projects outward. On either side of the transept are two quadrangular towers that reveal the building’s fortified physiognomy. Located in a small niche in the central apse is the Romanesque image of the Virgin Mary dating from the first half of the thirteenth century; she is also known as Our Lady of Andorra.

Restaurations

 The cathedral we see today, which is largely stripped of any add-ons and decorations from subsequent periods, is the outcome of a series of restorations undertaken in the twentieth century which sought to showcase the building’s Romanesque past.