Burgos - Cathedral of Santa María Catedral de Santa María

In the Capilla de Santa Ana is a gilded Gothic retablo by Gil de Siloé and Diego de la Cruz.

A better side of the Cid's character is shown by his signature on his marriage contract, which can be seen, with other old documents, in the Capilla de Santa Catalina.

The Capilla de Santiago contains the valuable cathedral treasury.

In the Capilla del Corpus Cristi is preserved the Cofre del Cid, an iron-bound chest which the Cid left with some Jewish merchants as security for a loan of 600 silver marks - though it is said that the chest was filled with sand and stones instead of the silverware it was supposed to contain.

In the center of the Capilla Mayor is the richly gilded high altar (by Rodrigo and Martín de la Haya, 1580). In front of it are the tombs of several members of the royal house of Castile and León. The reliefs in the trascoro (retrochoir) are mainly by Felipe Vigarny.

The choir and Capilla Mayor are separated from the rest of the church by high wrought-iron screens. The double rows of richly carved walnut stalls in the choir (1521) are mostly by Felipe Vigarny. In the center of the choir is the tomb of Bishop Mauricio (d. 1240), whose recumbent figure is covered with enameled sheet copper.

From the vestibule of the New Sacristy (Sacristía Nueva), richly decorated in Baroque style, a handsome doorway leads into the two-story 13th century Cloister (Claustro), which contains a number of notable tombs, including that of Ferdinand III and his wife Beatrice of Swabia.

The other doorways of the cathedral are also very fine: at the end of the north transept the richly decorated Puerta de la Coronería (c. 1250), also known as the Puerta de los Apóstoles from the magnificent figures of Apostles; also on the north side but facing east, the Puerta de la Pellejería (1516), a lively example of Plateresque by Francisco de Colonia, grandson of Juan de Colonia; and at the end of the south transept the Puerta del Sarmental (c. 1230), also richly decorated with sculpture (Christ as teacher of the Apostles).

The interior of the cathedral (excluding the Capilla del Condestable) is 84m/276ft long and of impressive height.

The first chapel in the south aisle is the Capilla del Santísimo Cristo, with the famous Cristo de Burgos, a figure of Christ covered with buffalo hide. In the third chapel on the right, the Relicario or Reliquary Chapel, is the much revered Virgen de Oca, probably dating from the 16th century. The first chapel in the north aisle is the Capilla de Santa Tecla, built by Churriguera in 1736, with over-ornate colored Rococo decoration and a very large altar; it also contains a Romanesque font. The other chapels all contain fine examples of religious art of the 13th-16th centuries, and in some of them there are also sumptuous tombs.

The west front of the cathedral, which was originally white but has suffered badly from air pollution, is dominated by the two magnificent openwork spires, 84m/276ft high, built by Juan de Colonia in 1458. Above the main doorway (Puerta Principal), which was altered in the 18th century and lost much of its sculptural decoration, is the beautiful rose window (estrellón), and above this again are eight statues of kings.

Behind the ambulatory is the entrance to the Capilla del Condestable (Constable's Chapel), in the richest Plateresque style, which was built between 1482 and 1494 by Simón de Colonia, to the design of his father Juan, for Pedro Hernández de Velasco, Constable of Castile. In the center of the chapel are the tombs of the Constable and his wife Doña Mencia de Mendoza, with lifelike recumbent figures in Carrara marble. To the right is the carved wooden altar of St. Anne. The rest of the decoration of the chapel (reliefs, sculpture, coats of arms) was the work of Simón de Colonia and Gil de Siloé. The adjoining Sacristy is now a souvenir shop; in a wall cupboard above the counter is a fine painting of Mary Magdalene by Gian Petrino, a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci.

In the center of the nave, borne on four massive piers, is the 59m/194ft. high Cimborio (Lantern), a masterpiece of Plateresque art, richly decorated with sculpture and coats of arms; it was erected by Juan de Vallejo in 1568 after the collapse of an earlier dome by Simón de Colonia (son of Juan de Colonia). A plain copper plate under the dome marks the spot where the remains of the Cid and his wife Jimena were deposited in 1921. At the end of the north transept a double staircase, the Escalera Dorada ("Golden Staircase") leads up to the Puerta de la Coronería, 8m/26ft above the floor level of the cathedral. This magnificent example of Plateresque, with its gilded balustrade and superb reliefs, was the work of Diego de Siloé, son of Gil de Siloé.

On the first floor of the cloister, in the old chapterhouse, is the Diocesan Museum, with valuable 16th and 17th century tapestries and fine gold and silverware.

High up on the outside wall of this chapel can be seen the Papamoscas ("Flycatcher") clock, with a figure which opens its mouth every hour on the hour.