The construction and destruction of the Cathedral of Santa María de Segovia

The old Cathedral of Santa María de Segovia was a building located in the city of Segovia, initiated in the 12th century and destroyed in 1520 during the Guerra de las Comunidades de Castilla. The space it occupied is currently the plaza de la Reina Victoria Eugenia, where the Alcázar de Segovia is located. Between the neighborhood and the fortress extended a space where the cathedral was built, along with its cloister, a hospital, and the palace of the obispo, forming a compact core with the Alcázar as the fortress gate was only meters from the cathedral door.

Of Romanesque style, it was consecrated on July 16, 1228, by don Juan, obispo de Sabinia, and again in 1257 by Raimundo de Losana. Once attempts to move the cathedral failed, an obispo sought to embellish it to match his court, endowing the Capilla de San Frutos with four capellanías and having the Capilla Mayor painted. The cathedral chapter commissioned a reja to close the Capilla Mayor from the master Francisco de Salamanca in 1515. This reja was later moved to the new cathedral to close the capilla de la Piedad.

In 1465, the obispo Juan Arias Dávila requested permission to build a new cloister. The works began in 1472 and were paid for by the obispo, using part of the site of the old episcopal palace, which was ruined at the time. The new cloister is a beautiful example of architecture with a square plan and five gallery sections covered with simple cross vaults, and its portal was paid for by Isabel la Católica. When the cathedral was destroyed and the project for the current one began, Juan Campero committed in 1524 to dismantling and moving the cloister to the new cathedral, a work finished in 1529.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons