Catedral de Santa María
Sigüenza’s magnificent cathedral, founded in the 12th century, is packed with treasures and fascinating tales. Star of the show is El Doncel (The Young Man), whose name and image you’ll see all over town. He was Martín Vázquez de Arce, page to Isabel I, who died in battle against the Muslims in 1486. On his tomb in the crypt is an alabaster carving of him in languid repose, reading a prayer book. The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset called it the world’s most beautiful piece of funerary sculpture (you can buy a replica at the cathedral shop).
The Sacristía de las Cabezas is equally extraordinary. Designed by Alonso de Covarrubias, the master architect of Toledo, its ceiling is carved with hundreds of heads representing all kinds of 16th-century people, from peasants to kings.
The entrance to the Capilla del Espíritu Santo bursts with Plateresque color, and inside, beneath an impressive cupola, hangs an Annunciation by El Greco. The ticket price includes a detailed audio guide and also gives access to the Diocesan museum, among whose highlights are paintings of the Virgin by Zurbarán and Morales—one angelic, the other stern.
Sigüenza’s magnificent cathedral, founded in the 12th century, is packed with treasures and fascinating tales. Star of the show is El Doncel (The Young Man), whose name and image you’ll see all over town. He was Martín Vázquez de Arce, page to Isabel I, who died in battle against the Muslims in 1486. On his tomb in the crypt is an alabaster carving of him in languid repose, reading a prayer book. The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset called it the world’s most beautiful piece of funerary sculpture (you can buy a replica at the cathedral shop).
The Sacristía de las Cabezas is equally extraordinary. Designed by Alonso de Covarrubias, the master architect of Toledo, its ceiling is carved with hundreds of heads representing all kinds of 16th-century people, from peasants to kings.
The entrance to the Capilla del Espíritu Santo bursts with Plateresque color, and inside, beneath an impressive cupola, hangs an Annunciation by El Greco. The ticket price includes a detailed audio guide and also gives access to the Diocesan museum, among whose highlights are paintings of the Virgin by Zurbarán and Morales—one angelic, the other stern.
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