Madrid's elegantly poised cathedral, paired opposite the Royal Palace in the west of the city, is a somewhat recent addition to this timeless city.
Madrid's Almudena Cathedral is something of a surprise. In a capital as old, and as important to Spain's regal past, as Madrid, you might expect a soaring pile of thousand-year old stones. Instead, Almudena, with its neat, pretty symmetry, elegant twin spires and pert dome, looks surprisingly well-kept – almost freshly-built. That's because it is. Almudena Cathedral, the cathedral the capital waited centuries for, was only completed in 1999. But what it lacks in age and overwrought architectural glory, it makes up for with its well-proportioned classical beauty.Almudena Cathedral gets part of that from its siting – it overlooks the wondrously tiled open-square of the Royal Palace of Madrid. The exterior was designed in the 19th-century by the Marquis of Cubas, and it was to have been a Gothic revival building. It got a boost when Pope Leo XIII made a Diocese out of Madrid – something the Church in Toledo had long resisted – and Almudena could be built as a fully-fledged cathedral.But work only progressed slowly, and was then halted by the Civil War – and doubts also grew. With the neoclassical Royal Palace as a neighbour, many in Madrid wanted something to complement, rather than jar, with it. So a redesign was called for. Fernando Chueca Goitia delivered the new plans in 1950, polishing the original design into a more formal style. The result is a curious – but ultimately successful – blend of Neo-Gothic, Baroque and Neo-Romanesque.The north façade probably presents the Cathedral at its best. Slip through the doorway, and you'll find yourself in a tall, vaulted interior space, simply decorated with some surprisingly modern effects. The statues and stained glass were completed by contemporary artists (some were only installed in 2004) and their bold primal designs are striking and visually exciting. It all makes for an interesting contrast to the crypt, which houses the ancient icon of the Virgen de la Almudena, the patroness for the city. Legend has it that it was discovered when the city was taken back from the Muslims in the 11th-century. It had apparently waited for four centuries to be found – the same time it took for Madrid to finally get the Cathedral that it deserves.
