Private Tour Santiago de Compostela from Lisbon

The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is a Catholic temple located in the city of Santiago de Compostela, capital of Galicia, Spain. It is the headquarters of the homonymous archdiocese and was built between 1075 and 1128, in Romanesque style, at the time of the Crusades and during the Christian Reconquest, having undergone several reforms that added Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements. According to tradition, it houses the tomb of the apostle Santiago Maior, patron and holy protector of Spain, which made it the main Christian pilgrimage destination in Europe after Rome during the Middle Ages, through the so-called Camino de Santiago, an initiatory route followed by the Milky Way, which stretched across the Iberian Peninsula and Western Europe. Pilgrimage was a determining factor in the political affirmation of medieval Hispanic Christian kingdoms and in their participation in the cultural movements of their time. Today it continues to be an important pilgrimage destination, contributed by the renewed popularity of the Camino de Santiago since the 1990s, which brought more than 270,000 registered pilgrims to the cathedral. The cathedral was declared a Well of Cultural Interest in 1896 and the so-called old town of Santiago de Compostela, which centers around the cathedral, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1985.

Stroll through the Cathedral square and the old town of Santiago de Compostela

Santiago Historic Center Historical set of urban centers declared as such. Declared on March 9, 1940. Extension on April 30, 1976. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on December 4, 1985. Today, when the traveler, pilgrim or tourist, arrives in Compostela and looks in front of the Obradoiro facade, he can only say: "It was worth it". Never can such a simple sentence say so much. The city of Santiago offers a unique monumental complex. Its monasteries, temples, palaces, ancient streets and typical popular buildings, together with their spiritual and cultural significance, deserved their inclusion in the World Heritage.